The Wait Is Over

All Rise

At breakfast, Rose informed Joy of what transpired during bed checks the previous evening. Joy asked Rose to send Alyssa and Sam up to her. The two of them spoke with her about holding a tribunal to gather the details of why Steph and Sofia missed bed check. Sam asked to be excused due to her inability to be objective when it came to Steph. Following some asking around, Lindsey agreed to sit with Alyssa to hear this case. As the players left for training, Joy informed the two Red Stars that they were to stay behind and meet with the chosen preceptors concerning last night.

Alyssa: Steph and Sofia, we were informed by Rose that the two of you did not answer bed check last night. Can you tell us why that was the case?

Steph: I had gotten a bit too wasted at the party earlier in the evening and Kristie wanted to keep an eye on me. I asked Sofia if we could switch rooms for the night.

Lindsey: Sofia?

Sofia: I was in Steph and Danielle's room and didn't want to draw attention that I wasn't where I was supposed to be, so I thought not answering would be better than answering from the wrong room.

Alyssa: Can we corroborate these facts with Kristie and Danielle?

Sofia: Sure.

Steph: Go ahead.

The preceptors dismissed Steph and Sofia, sending them onto training while the two of them took care of documenting the alibis for future questioning of the roommates.

***

Morning training was pretty non-descript, as all the players seemed a bit tired from last night's extended celebrations. The federation catered in lunch for the players at Providence Park in order to lessen the amount of back-and-forth between the stadium and the hotel on this day. Following lunch, the two teams for the scrimmage suited up and came out to the pitch for warm-ups. Joy was in charge of the Stars squad (USWNT alumnae, preceptors, and "locks" for the qualifying roster) while Laura managed the Stripes team. The First XIs:

Stars: Naeher; Smith, Ertz, Sonnett, Klingenberg; Lavelle, S. Mewis, Horan, Heath; Press, Morgan.

Stripes: Rowland; Sullivan, Roccaro, Oyster, Gibbons; Killion, Colaprico, Sanchez; Huerta, Williams, Jordan.

The Stripes took the opening kickoff and proceeded to get a shot on goal two minutes in, which was saved by Naeher. She rolled out the ball to Klingenberg, who passed it to Mewis, then onward to Lavelle, back to Horan, up to Press, off to Heath, back around to Mewis, to Morgan, and forward to Lavelle making a sprint down the right touchline. Lavelle got to the byline and crossed the ball to the penalty spot, where Ertz' header was tipped over the bar by Rowland. Heath took the corner kick, which was re-directed by Sonnett past the not-fast-enough mitt of Rowland. She was mobbed by her fiancee and the other Thorns players on her team.

Twenty-five minutes into the first half, Joy sent Ashlyn on for Alyssa and Allie Long for Lindsey Horan. While the game resumed, Alyssa and Lindsey went down to the other bench and pulled Kristie away for questioning.

Alyssa: Steph told us that the reason she didn't make bed check last night was that she had had a little too much at the induction ceremony and you wanted to watch over her in case things got bad. Is that the truth?

Kristie pondered how to respond. Go along with Steph's lie and potentially risk her being scratched for the match on Saturday, or tell the truth and possibly have Joy change their expected roommate situation for the Denver portion of camp? After some deliberation, Kristie said "That is correct. She passed out once we got to my room."

Alyssa thanked Kristie for her answer and she and Lindsey went back to the Stripes' bench to wait for halftime to come. Neither team scored again in the first 45 and they went into the locker rooms with the Stars up 1-0. During the break, Lindsey talked to Danielle about what happened last night.

Lindsey: Sofia said she was with you in your room last night because Steph needed to stay with Kristie due to being inebriated.

Danielle: Sofia was there and in bed by the time I came in. She didn't say why she was staying with me, and I didn't ask. When Rose came by to do the bed check, I answered it but Sofia didn't. I asked her about it and she said it was probably better than she not turn up at all than to turn up in the wrong place.

Lindsey, hearing that the two renditions of the evening matched pretty closely, thanked Danielle and went to deliberate Steph and Sofia's fate.

Changes at halftime for the teams:

Stars: Campbell for Harris; Short for Smith and Hinkle for Ertz with Klingenberg going to right back and Short slotting in the center alongside Sonnett; Rapinoe for Lavelle; Pugh for Press.

Stripes: Franch for Rowland; K. Mewis for Gibbons; Dougherty Howard for Killion; Andrews for Colaprico; Corboz for Sanchez; McCaffrey for Williams; Groom for Roccaro, with Sullivan moving centrally and Huerta dropping to right back.

The changes brought a bit better chemistry to both sides, resulting in several goals over the final 45 minutes. McCaffrey picked up a pair, with assists coming from her two Red Stars playing outside back, and Jordan got on the end of a Dougherty Howard through-pass to stake the Stripes to a 3-1 lead after 70 minutes. Joy re-inserted Press, Ertz, Mewis, and Horan for the final twenty minutes and the foursome's determination provided three goals of their own to give the Stars a 4-3 win.

Stars 4 Stripes 3 (Sonnett/Heath, Press/Morgan, S. Mewis/Rapinoe, Morgan/Horan; McCaffrey/Huerta, McCaffrey/K. Mewis, Jordan/Dougherty Howard)

***

The judgment of the Preceptor Tribunal was as follows:

Stephanie McCaffrey - confinement to quarters for two nights.

Sofia Huerta - 5 additional laps on Thursday morning.

Kristie Mewis - Lifting at 85% of 1RM for all exercises on Thursday.

Danielle Colaprico - exonerated.