My heart pounded and sweat dripped down my face, even though the game didn’t start yet. I could picture the outcome in my mind; I was holding the trophy in my hands, and crying tears of joy. I could hear my team shouting my name because I scored the winning goal in the biggest game of our lives. “Casey.” I snapped back to reality. “Oh sorry Coach John,” I said. “Please, lead the team in stretches.” I nodded.
“Casey, you’re going to score our goals today. After all you are the number one goal scorer on the team,” my friend and co-captain, Tess said. “I will try my best Tess. But no promises.” She sighed. I sat down on the ground, closed my eyes, and drew in a breath. The fresh green grass smelt marvelous, and the softness of it reminded me of my rug at home. “Let’s go girls, we need to stretch. Don’t want to injure ourselves during this big game.” My soccer team, the Chicago Wolves, was playing against the LA Snakes in the match for the National Soccer Title. It was incredible! I took my elastic and put my long, blonde hair into a ponytail. I did that before every game. It was my tradition, and although it seemed silly, it meant something to me.
I was the starting forward. We had the ball first. My fellow striker, Mellissa, was shaking. “Don’t worry Mellissa, we will win this.” I closed my eyes. I remember the last time I was under pressure like this. It was up to me to score the last goal during the shootout in order to win the region title. That was two years ago. The whistle blew and the game started. “Here Mellissa, got me here,” I screamed. She passed the ball to me and I sprinted down the wing, dribbling my way in and out of players. My strides were much wider than most girls on my team, even though I was the shortest, with my height being 5’ 2”. I took a shot, and put all of the power I had behind the kick. The ball whizzed past the goalie and I heard shouts and cheers, people screaming my name. I scored the first goal of the game.
The other team started with the ball, and you could tell that they wanted this game. They were shoving and intentionally tripping, which were both fouls. The biggest girl on the team, number 23, looked like a brick wall. She was built to wrestle or be a professional weight lifter, not to play soccer. I ran up to her and took the ball from her. She seemed pretty upset because all of a sudden she turned into a raging rhinoceros. I regretted what I did. She ran up behind me, poking her legs between mine to try and have the ball leave my possession.
She was starting to become more aggressive, pulling my jersey back, stepping on my heels, and applying more pressure than ever. She shoved me to the side, trying to make me lose control of the ball. I didn’t though. As I tried to cut in front of her, I felt a sharp, sudden pain in my ankle. Then I heard the rhino laughing. Her cackle sounded like Sarah Sanderson, the youngest witch in Hocus Pocus. I could not run any further. My ankle gave out and I fell down, screaming in pain. Everyone gasped and the crowd fell silent. Dead silent.
No one was sure whether I could finish out the game at first, but when they took my sock off, it was the most disgusting sight. My ankle was the size of a softball. You could see it throb and the purple bulge just kept swelling. It was by far the ugliest thing ever. “Casey, you are going to have to sit out the rest of the game,” Coach John said. “I mean you can barely walk, so you can’t even play with your other foot.” “It’s okay Coach, as long as we stay in the lead; we have the game in the bag.” But I totally jinxed myself, because the second after I said that, number 23 scored a goal.
It was the start of the second half, and the game was tied 1-1. “Let’s go Wolves. Don’t put your heads down because we still have another half. Just because I’m sitting out doesn’t mean we can’t win this. Now get your head in the game and have faith because you guys are all just as good as me. Let’s win this game,” I exclaimed trying to turn my teammate’s frowns into smiles. “You’re right Casey. Just because you’re sitting out doesn’t mean we can’t win this,” Mellissa said. The ref’s whistle blew, indicating the start of the second half. “Keep your head in the game girls. Good luck!” And with that, everyone ran out onto the field, but me.
“Mellissa, man on,” I hollered, warning her that a player from the other team was gaining on her. She passed the ball swiftly to Kylie, the girl who took my spot. Not to sound c***y or anything, but she did not belong on this elite team. It was a mistake for coach to put her in, but I had no say in it. Kylie trapped the ball and dribbled throughout the middle, gaining yardage as she moved closer to the opposing goal. “Shoot Kylie, shoot,” Mellissa exclaimed. Kylie took a shot, but it was right at the goalie. Go figure.
There were 2 minutes left in the game and it was still tied. Mellissa was on a breakaway. It was just her and the Snakes’ goalie. Mellissa took a shot and it was like a bullet from a gun. It hit the crossbar. “No,” I cried out, knowing that that was our only chance of winning the game. A tear slid down from my cheek. “Casey.” I looked up. “Yes Coach.” He sat down next to me. “I know that this game means so much to you. But have faith. We could still win this. Just because our number one goal scorer is not on the field, doesn’t mean we won’t be able to score,” he said. Coach John always said something that made me think or changed my mind. “You’re right coach.” He chuckled. “I’m always right Casey.” The whistle blew three times, indicating that it was the end of the game. This meant that it was time for penalty kicks.
The lineup was Mellissa, Jen, Rebecca, Sydney, and then, Kylie. I prayed and prayed hoping that we would win this game, but I was still not too sure. Mellissa was up first, and you could see she was nervous. Her slim body was shaking uncontrollably. She took a shot, having the ball fly past the goalie in the right corner. Number 23 from the Snakes was up and she missed the goal. Thank God. Then Jen was up. She hit the crossbar, but we were still up. The next girl from the Snakes tied it, getting her shot in the top left corner. Rebecca took her shot, missing the goal by inches. After, the girl from the Snakes took her shot and it was unbelievable. It whizzed right past our goalie, Sophie’s head. Then it was Sydney’s turn and she just barely made it in. If the last 2 of the Snakes girl didn’t make their shots, then we won. But that also meant that Kylie would have to make her shot and I wasn’t too sure about that. Number 86 in Snakes missed her shot. “No pressure Kylie,” I joked, but I received some frowns from parents and team mates. I felt bad for Kylie because this shot determined whether we won the game or not. I closed my eyes and just pictured a miracle, her getting it in. When I opened them, I gasped.
Kylie’s shot just passed the goalie and that was it. The Chicago Wolves were the national champions! I limped over to her and hugged her. “Kylie, I knew you had it in you! You won this game for us and we couldn’t be any happier,” I said, shedding a few tears. She was bawling and she was at a loss for words. “Nice job kid,” Coach said to her. Everyone was cheering her name. Although my vision was different in my head, I couldn’t have asked for a better team or better team mates. “Girls, I would like to congratulate you, and just know that it wasn’t a single player that made this happen, but a team effort. We lost one of our players today, and she probably won’t be playing with us for a while. But let’s defend this title and keep winning with class. I’m so proud of you and I can’t wait to see you back at our home turf,” Coach said. He always had a way with words and always knew how to put a smile on my face.
Ten years later, I was sitting on my bed in my dorm during senior year of college. I pulled out a box, all of my major accomplishments in my life. I stumbled upon the medal I was given that very day we were able to call ourselves national champions. Looking at the medal, I never really appreciated the great team I had until that moment. Sure, the day was years ago and I barely got to play, but it was a day that will never be forgotten.