GAME DAY
UCLA v STANFOD
Right before entering the field, Steph grabs Abby's hand and pulls her aside, grabbing both of her cheeks, kissing her.
The defender frowns.
"What's up with you ? You usually..."
"Happy couple anniversary, my love" Steph whispers, before smiling. "After the game, I'm taking you somewhere."
"O-okay" Abby says.
The forward kisses her one more time, before running on the field, leaving Abby in total confusion.
She cares about those things ?
______________
The crowd is quite a pretty one, as 6'000 people from both campuses are there to support the girls, all knowing each other from the time when both teams were playing in UCLA. Today, the game is at Stanford.
Allie advances toward the refs and Shelina in order to shake her hand and chose the side of the pitch they want to begin with. Instead of shaking the Canadian's hand, she just gives her a strong hug, saying :
"Good luck."
Shelina winks at her, smirking.
"Whatever happens, we're all celebrating after the game. Deal ?"
Allie smiles.
"Deal."
The two girls get into position, and the game is underway.
_______________
"Leah, be aware ! Daly on your back !" Kop yells from the other side of the field.
It's the 86th minute already, and the score is still 2-2 (goals from Lotta (x2) for Stanford, and from Tobin and Kealia for UCLA). Julie feels the pressure coming at them stronger than before. She turns around and exchanges a look with Kelsey in goals, who rocked it and made some tremendous saves for her side lately.
This game could go either way, the defender thinks to herself.
But when Stanford come at them, Sonnett makes the mistake of holding Christen when she runs inside of the 16, and the penalty is whistled. As Kelsey claps her gloves, trying to make herself fall into a bubble to concentrate, Sonnett starts crying. Julie runs toward her, as the rest of the back-line is positioning : she grabs the girl's cheeks, before saying :
"It's okay, Sonny. You're okay. We will figure this out."
Sonnett shakes her head and doesn't say anything : Pk in the 87th , we're screwed. That's what everybody but Kelsey is thinking at the moment. The goalie is closing her eyes concentrated on what's coming. She knows where Carli is positioned. She read her eyes and guessed the side she'll go with.
So she just waits.
Meanwhile, Mal looks around her : she catches eyes with Jessie, who is as nervous as she is, and the two girls exchange a smile. Then, the forward positions herself on side. Being the main attacking player on the field means staying out of the box's mess right now. She takes some deep breaths.
The whistle is blown, and Carli Lloyd takes several steps before shooting.
Before even being able to wonder how Kelsey got her foot to save the ball, Mal starts running as fast as she can : while the goalie kicked the ball, it elevates on the sky. I need to get there before Kop does, Mal thinks to herself, sprinting the fastest she's even done. The Stanford goalie, who realizes that Mal is faster than her, starts running backwards. Mal collects the ball, lifts her head, and starts running with it at her feet.
