[DISCONTINUED] SuperNova | USWNT

9 - State Championship Part 2

During our 20 minute break, Coach gave us another pep talk and a rundown of the game so far. He let us know that we were working well as a team and making good plays, but we were missing out on the little things. And, those little things ended up having major consequences on the score of the game, like being offsides, for example. (Although, Coach even admitted it was a bad call).

After he finished his rant, the team and I followed him out to the benches. We had a few minutes left before the game started back up again, so I took a drink of my water before sitting down. The rest of the team soon crowded around the benches and I sighed, knowing I'd have to say some words to them.

"Alright, team, huddle up." I stepped up from the bench and put my arms over Riley and Chloe's shoulders, bringing them into a group. The rest of the girls followed suit, until we were in a large huddle. "First of all, I just want to let you girls know that I am proud of each and every one of you. We haven't played this much like a team, probably, ever, and you all should be proud of that as well." I took a long look at all of these girls huddled around me and tried my best to make them believe what I was saying. Some of them were smiling, while others just nodded their heads.

"With that being said, we still have plenty of room for improvement in this next half. If anything, we need to work harder, because we all know the other team isn't going down without a fight." Several of the girls nodded their heads. "Look, I know you're all tired and maybe even a little disappointed with the outcome of the first half, but we can't let those things get to us. I want you to lay it all out on that field tonight and if you have any energy left after this game is over, you did not do your best. We didn't come here to mess around, we came here to win! And we need to show all of them out there who the real Champs are!" The girls all started getting hyped up and I placed my hand in the middle of the huddle. The team followed my lead until all of our hands were piled in the middle. "Team on three... one, two, three... Team!" We all yelled in unison and jogged back out onto the pitch.

The crowd started screaming again, anticipating the start of the second half. Chloe and I took our places in the center circle since our team would be kicking off this half. As the teams were getting ready, I moved my gaze to the crowd and found my little sister. She was already looking back at me with a huge grin on her face. When she saw that I was looking at her, she started waving frantically. I returned the wave which caused her to start bouncing up and down, flailing her arms above her head and screaming like a maniac. I laughed at her childish antics and saw Natalie shaking her head at the ten year old with a smile.

I continued to scan the crowd, watching as all our fans went crazy in their seats: swinging flags, shaking posters around, throwing their hands in the air. It was like a big celebration and we hadn't even won yet. I smiled to myself and brought my eyes towards the sideline and to my coach. Yet, when my eyes landed on him and I spotted an older woman standing next to him, my smile quickly changed into a frown of confusion. Who is she? The woman was short with her blonde hair pulled back into a bun. She was wearing a big navy blue coat along with some navy blue track pants. For some odd reason, she looked familiar, but I couldn't quite pinpoint where I had seen her from. She was smiling and talking animatedly with Coach, nodding her head once in a while. What could they be talking about?

She must've felt me staring at her, because she looked up and we locked eyes. She held a straight face for a moment as I looked at her with a confused expression, but then she simply smiled and winked. Looking back up to the center ref, who was now placing the ball at Chloe's feet, I felt an odd sense of determination. For some reason, I had this overwhelming need to impress this woman whom I didn't even know the name of. It gave me a surge of energy and I was finally ready to go all in and show everyone what I could do.