A Season Of Rebirth

NWSL Matchday Six

After checking into the Hyatt Regency St. Louis, Alyssa Naeher, Emily Boyd, and Taylor Comeau from the Red Stars walked over to Bamboo Bistro to meet Julie King, Katie Stengel, Aubrey Bledsoe, and Ifeoma Onumonu from St. Louis FC for dinner. Alyssa gave her girlfriend a peck on the cheek when she arrived, then introduced her backup to Aubrey, who she would be facing tomorrow when the two clubs competed. Onumonu exchanged hugs with her former Cal-Berkeley teammates Boyd and Comeau. Once seated, the conversation began.

Alyssa (to Julie): I just saw you a few days ago in Kansas City, but I miss you, babe.

OTHERS: Awwwwwwww!

Julie blushed before squeezing Alyssa's hand under the table. "Why did I wait until after you were gone from the Breakers to pursue you?"

Alyssa: Same reason I didn't tell you before I left that you were someone I wanted to date. Scared of being turned down. So Katie, how did you and Aubrey come to cross the line?

Katie: We should have just made the leap when we were at Wake Forest together, but there were a million things in the way, not the least of which being that I'm built like THIS! Girls wouldn't want me and guys think I'm so bro it's not even funny.

Alyssa: I completely get what you mean. Someone as adorable at Julie I thought would never want what I would bring to a relationship, the bro vibe combined with being shy as the dickens. When we agreed to start dating, I made her agree that we would NOT get looped into her sister's reality TV world (Julie's sister Meghan King Edmonds is one of the Real Housewives of Orange County), and so far that hasn't happened.

Julie: I love Lyss too much to put her in a situation where she could easily get overwhelmed.

Katie: Back to the story. When Aubrey agreed to play in Australia with me, it made good sense for us to have "the talk", since I hadn't found someone who I wanted as much as her and she seemed open to exploring something with me.

Taylor: So the two of you get together at the same time the Breakers are being moved from Boston to St. Louis. How did she end up here?

Aubrey: Credit Julie and Katie for that. When it became known the team would be moving to St. Louis, the two of them, being natives or near-natives (Katie's dad and family are from the area), worked on trying to keep most of the team together as well as broaching potential teammates from the Midwest. It helped with keeping Rose here, getting Shea (Groom) from Utah, and now the other two former FC Kansas City players. With Rose and I both from Cincinnati and Katie and I starting to date, there was a bit of a push inside the building for Vlatko (Andonovski, St. Louis' new head coach) to go get me. I knew I'd eventually get my time in Orlando because Ashlyn would be gone with the national team, but I wanted to show I could be a starter in this league. The trade was made and now I'm where I should be, alongside Katie and part of the bigger Stengel family.

Katie leaned over and pecked Aubrey's temple, which got a smile out of Alyssa and Julie.

Emily: Tomorrow will be my first start in the league, and even though I've been told everywhere I've gone to prepare like the starter even if you're the backup, I never really heed that advice. Lyss, Aubrey, anything special I should know or do in preparation?

Julie: First thing you need to do is trust your back line to do most of the defensive work. Trying to be a superhero every game is NOT in a goalkeeper's repertoire, as I'm sure Alyssa will tell you from her 2014 season in Boston. Control what you can control, and make your teammates do their jobs in front of you.

Aubrey: I'll echo Julie. I was able to step in and show reasonably well for the few games Ash was hurt last year because the back line handled a bit of the work in front of me. Problem is that it wasn't as solid a unit as what North Carolina or Kansas City or Portland had and the results showed that.