Soccer Girls Ch. 11

When Katie came back to the room, she did not take notice of the look on Melanie's face and she asked reflexively "So, did you talk to your mom?" As she said this, she finally did make eye contact with Melanie and immediately saw that there was a problem. "Melanie, what is it?"

"Mom and Susan have broken up. Susan's moved out of the house."

"Oh my God. What happened?"

"Well, you know that Susan has been babysitting this brand-new lawyer at the firm where she works. She is supposedly going to be some hot shot attorney. But this chick has been freaking out about whether she would even pass the Bar Exam. She's a real Hermione Granger type. Stresses about the test and then gets an "A." Well, she was like that on steroids. At our last home game Susan didn't even come into the stadium because she was on the phone with this chick who was freaking out."

"So, the Bar Exam results came out yesterday morning and of course she passed. And everyone from the firm went out to celebrate. And she told my mom she was going and that she might be a while as the firm had given her and this Kelly girl today off as part of the celebration. So anyway, it gets really late, and mom starts calling and she gets no answer. And now it's like well past midnight and mom starts freaking out. She's calling local hospitals to see if any unidentified person had been brought in and she calls the local police to see how long she has to wait to file a missing person report."

"She finally just falls asleep from exhaustion on the couch. Then this morning, first thing, she's still on the couch and there's a phone call from Susan's office and voicemail picks up before she can get it. And the person says how Susan and Kelly had left the party so early and how she had left her phone at the bar and how this person had picked it up and that she knew Susan did not have to come into the office today but if she wanted to come get her phone she could. And then, here's the kicker. She said, 'Or maybe you can have Kelly come get it for you. She seemed pretty willing to do anything you wanted her to do last night.'"

"Well, about 5 minutes after that call, Susan finally comes into the house doing the walk of shame. So, there was a lot of yelling and crying and Susan took a bunch of clothes and stuff and left. They're going to have to work something out to get the rest of her stuff, but it seems like they are done."

Katie asked, "So how's your mom taking it?"

"She's kind of broken up about it. I know I've wanted Susan gone but I never really thought about how that was going to affect my mom. Now that it's actually happened, I feel a little bad about it too."

"Are you gonna go home?"

"No. I did offer. It would have been tough with Thanksgiving tomorrow and I don't know what Coach would have said this time. But my mom wouldn't hear of it. She was already planning to go with Susan to my grandparents' house for the holiday anyway. She did get some additional time off from work as well. She has a room with the booster club at a hotel in case we make the Final Four. She said she would come if we make the Championship Game."

Although the next day was Thanksgiving, the soccer team was not going home as they now had a game on Saturday night. The cafeteria was closed and so Coach Quincannon arranged a potluck dinner for the team. Not surprisingly, when it was over and everyone was going home, Coach Hochbauer was going to look at film. "If they can beat a number two seeded team, they can beat a number three seeded team."

Saturday night that did seem to be coming true as they found themselves down 0-1 at halftime. But Coach Quincannon's halftime speech was all fire and brimstone, and it lit a fire under the team. They went on to cruise to a 3-1 win. Melanie had a goal and Neve Cohill has two. Katie had assisted on all three. The clock had struck midnight for the seventh seeded Cinderella.

For the Regional Final, Coach Hochbauer noticed the other team was stacking their defense toward Melanie's side. So, she had Katie and Melanie stay wider and let Michelle and Neve run some two man games up the right side for another easy victory and a trip to the Women's Soccer Final Four.

For the Final Four all the games were to be held at one stadium over a long weekend. The girls had the semi-final game Saturday evening and if they won, the Championship Game would be on Monday night. The other remaining teams had been the number one seeds in their respective regions, so they were now the underdogs.

The Booster Club had paid for a whole floor at a local hotel and parents and family easily filled up the rooms. Carol Rogers was there with her Jersey and her Thundersticks and her cowbell. Jen Smith had paid for a room, but it was empty at the moment. She stayed at her parents' home still dealing with her break up with Susan McPherson, her live-in partner of over four years.

The semifinal game was rough. They had no one that could match Melanie's speed and so the defenders grabbed her, pulled her, and even knocked her down. She felt compelled to remind Katie that she could not afford to get a yellow card as she could see anger building in her eyes.

Melanie had faced this her entire soccer career and she had learned a trick or two. Midway through the second half, when a defender went to reach for her, she ducked out of the way. The defender, grasping air instead of a body, overbalanced and fell to the turf. This left Melanie open for a pass from Neve which she put home for a goal.

That would have been enough for the win but about ten minutes later, Neve made a triple move, got her defender to spin the wrong way and then cut inside and blasted a shot into the high far corner for a 0-2 win and a date for the finals.

Jen Smith was flying in Monday afternoon for the game that night. Since the location was such that Carol Rogers had driven herself to the site, she agreed to pick Jen up from the airport.

They met at the baggage claim with big smiles and a chaste hug. The whole conversation on the ride to the hotel was about the semifinal game and how exciting that had been and the girls' chances for the finals. There was no mention of Jen's recent domestic turmoil.

When they got to the parking lot, Carol turned off the engine but stayed in the car. She turned to Jen and said, "Look Jen, I may be the last person you want to talk to right now, so all I am going to say is that if you do want to talk to me, you know you can."

"Thanks Carol. But right now, I just want to get up to my room and get ready for the game." They got out of the car and entered the hotel. They crossed to the elevators and went to the floor where they both had their rooms, courtesy of the Booster Club.

As they exited, their rooms were in opposite directions, so they began walking to their respective rooms. After a few steps, Carol turned and said, "Kind of like old times Jen."

"Yeah Carol. I guess it is."

"I think I am going to go put Katie's number on my cheeks. There's a bus that will take us over to the stadium that should be leaving in about an hour. See you then." And with that Carol turned and went to her room.

An hour later when Jen came down to the lobby, she saw that Carol had in fact painted Katie's number on her cheeks. Jen was relieved that she would not be the only person who had her daughter's number on her cheeks. They sat next to each other on the bus and talked about all the soccer the girls had played in the Blue Lightning days. They laughed and had a great time as they arrived at the stadium.

Once inside they sat together and continued where they had left off on the bus. When the girls came out, Carol smacked her Thundersticks and Jen rang Carol's cowbell. When their daughters looked up, they showed them the numbers on their cheeks and gave them a cheer. As usual, Melanie smiled broadly, and Katie tried to pretend she had no idea who the loud redheaded woman with the number 20 painted on her face was.

Right from the opening kick, Katie realized this team was fast. She had to play back to help the defense so much that they never really mounted any offense. A few times Katie boomed the ball out down the sidelines just to get it out of their defensive third. Some fast runs by Melanie and Neve turned those into a little something. But the other team's defense was always back enough to cut off any scoring chances and most of the first half was played in their own end.

The Coaches made some adjustments at halftime and the second half was better. But they still played a lot of the second half on defense, and it just seemed like it was only a matter of time. But Jo was a rock on the back line, and she always seemed to be where she needed to be to make sure that there were no uncontested shots. At the end of regulation, the score remained 0-0.

During the first fifteen minutes of extra time, both sides seemed to be trying to recuperate a little and no one wanted to make a mistake either. Each team did have one legitimate scoring chance, but both goaltenders were equal to the task and so after 105 minutes, there was still no score.

When the girls came to the sideline in between the extra time sessions, Coach said "Rogers. Smith. Cohill. I don't want this game to go to penalty kicks. Go win it for us girls."

The girls knew that if the opportunity presented itself, they had to try that play. The opportunity came about ten minutes in when the defender on Melanie's side came up too far to try to help their offensive push. Katie was able to intercept a pass and boomed her patented ball down the sideline to Melanie.

When the defender realized her mistake, she turned and sprinted down the field. Because she had been well coached, she was running after Melanie, but running to where she expected Melanie to go. Only Melanie stayed out wide. The defense now knew that something was up. This was a trick play. But what was the trick? When Melanie actually stopped, the defender did too. This was not what she expected and was trying to figure out what to do instead of just reacting.

That changed as Katie pelted toward the near post and yelled "Melanie!"

"So that was their play." Went through the mind of several of the defenders.

Katie heard the goalie call out "Near Post!" just as Melanie kicked the ball. As it sailed toward her, Katie jumped. She knew she wouldn't be able to get it, but maybe her jumping would help sell the fake. At the apex of her jump Katie saw the ball go over her head. When she landed her back was now to the play and she looked at Melanie to let her reaction tell her what was going on behind her.

Katie saw Melanie's eyes go wide and a look of utter joy was on her face. At that moment, Katie heard the sound of the ball hitting the nylon at the back of the net and knew that Neve had been right where she was supposed to be and drove the ball home.

Melanie came and jumped into Katie's arms. Neve's momentum carried her past the goal, but she turned right, bent over at the waist and stuck her arms out like an airplane. The rest of the team mobbed her at the corner flag.

In the stands, Carol and Jen had jumped up when the goal was scored and roared out their joy. They turned to each other and wrapped their arms around each other, and both leaned into the other and planted a kiss on the other's lips. As soon as they had done it, both sets of eyes shot up and they backed up like they had had an electric shock. There was a look of fear on both of their faces, and they stared at each other for a few seconds. However, other parents were cheering and patting them on the back. They both quickly recovered and the cowbell and the Thundersticks were soon adding to the din on their sideline.

The thing was, there was still five minutes left in the game. Coach Quincannon was now screaming to be heard, reminding the girls that the game was not over. This was a team with a long and proud tradition of winning National Championships. And they knew they still had time to win this one.

When play restarted, they did everything they could to get that tying goal. They put intense pressure on and almost managed to get the equalizer, but a driving save lead to a corner kick. Even their goalie came down for this to make this one last effort. It was a risk they had to take, but it was a risk that did not pay off.

The ball was loose near the goal and many feet were trying to make contact. But it was Jo who finally got a piece of it and sent it booming down the sideline. Her wish was just to get it away from the goal. But now there was no one out there. And the first one to the ball was Neve Cohill. The goalie now sprinted back as fast as she could, but Neve was a little past mid field with no one in front of her when she let the ball go. The goalie made a last-ditch dive, but to no avail. It rolled across the goal line and now the score was 0-2.

To their credit, the other team did not give up even after this happened. There was still another minute to go, and they even added three minutes stoppage time for the goal celebrations. But in the end, nothing else went in for either side and the game ended.

When the final whistle blew Carol and Jen cheered and high fived each other. After all the hugs and some congratulatory handshakes and jersey exchanges with the other team, the whole team linked arms and jogger over toward the stands. When they got there, they all bowed to their fans, many of whom had been driving them to soccer practice and going to games since they were 4 and 5. And now they were National Champions.

There was a presentation of the trophy and a lot of pictures to be taken and stories to be told. The fans all got to come on the field after the game and there were a lot of hugs and high fives. It turned out that with that open net goal at the end, Neve Cohill actually got the Golden Boot award for the most goals in the tournament.

Katie and Melanie finally got to meet Vito and Angelina Napoli. They got a good laugh when someone said something to "Jo" and Angelina Napoli said "Sephine." While they both thought it was funny, they did call her Josephine while her mother was around.

With all the hubbub of the trophies and the celebration, Carol and Jen did not speak with each other on the field. On the bus ride back to the hotel, they mostly talked about the game. Carol would be driving back home, and she offered Jen a ride. Jen thanked her but said she already had the ticket, and her car was at the airport so she would fly. When Carol asked if she wanted a ride to the airport, Jen again demurred, saying she already had made arrangements for the shuttle to take her.

When they got to the elevator, they rode up in silence. As they turned to walked to their rooms, Carol turned back and said "Jen?" When Jen turned around Carol added "It was just like old times. Wasn't it?"

"Yes Carol, it was. I'm happy about that. Good night and have a safe trip back."

"Good night. You have a safe trip too." They stared at each other for what seemed like forever but was probably about five seconds. Then they each turned and went to their rooms. By the time Carol got up and went to the lobby for breakfast that next morning, Jen had already left for the airport.

***************

When the bus pulled onto campus and rolled up to the Athletic Center, there was quite a crowd waiting for the National Champions. Nothing will bring out a crowd like an award that huge. The school's marching band was there since it was a Tuesday and there was no football. The school mascot made an appearance. Even the cheerleading squad showed up, although one of their number would have been there anyway.

Katie was first off the bus, holding the Championship Trophy aloft to the roar of the assembled crowd. But as the rest of the team began to follow her out, it was clear who the crowd wanted to see. CO-HILL! CO-HILL! CO-HILL! When Neve came off, she held up her Golden Boot trophy and the crowd went wild again. More yelling and screaming. More chants of CO-HILL! The Marching Band started the school fight song, and the cheerleaders shook their pom poms.

Katie went up to Neve and was saying something to her, but the noise of the crowd and the band and the cheerleaders and everything else made it so loud that even though they had to shout, the only other person who heard their conversation was Melanie.

Katie started by yelling "Neve, take both and hold them up."

"No Katie, you're the Captain. You should hold the trophy."

"Neve, I just played my last game for the school. I'm going to graduate in May. But you still have next year. This team is yours now, not mine. Hold them both up. Soak it in and let it make you hungry for more."

Neve took the Championship Trophy from Katie and took two steps forward, so she was out front of her team a few steps and facing the crowd. She held up both trophies and the crowd went insane.

Shouts of "We're Number One! We're Number One!" and "Co-Hill! Co-Hill! Co-Hill!" echoed throughout campus.

Melanie came up to Katie and tapped her on the shoulder. Katie leaned down a little so that Melanie was able to speak right into her ear. Melanie said "Katie, you are the Captain and I know that was your last game and it was mine and Jo's as well. We get to go out on top. Why wouldn't you take at least a little bit of the moment for yourself. You earned it."

Katie stood up, turned her head to Melanie and smiled. Then she leaned down again so she could reply and said "I told you. My moment is coming next June." Then Katie took Melanie in her arms and gave her a big, passionate kiss. And even though they were surrounded by almost a thousand people, the only one who saw it was Tiffany Hochbauer. And she smiled.

The semester was finally over, and finals were done. Katie, Melanie, Jo and Margaret were all out to dinner. Most of the conversation between Katie and Jo was surrounding what they would do regarding soccer now that their college playing careers were over. For Melanie and Margaret, it was more about the wedding dress shopping that Melanie and Katie would be doing over the Winter break.

Jo and Margaret were each going to spend a week at the other's house over the break. Melanie asked, "Are you each taking the other to meet your parents?"

Jo said "I don't know if I'd say we're at the 'meeting the parents' stage. But I think it is a good thing to spend a little time with each other's families, just to see how it goes." Margaret did not say anything else and so Melanie left the topic alone for the rest of dinner.

As they were walking to the car though, she held Margaret back a little and asked if she was okay with Jo's answer. "Yeah. I had a little issue about how committed Jo was to us over the summer. I'm sure you noticed it. But we solved that. In fact, I never did thank you for having Jo start doing my toenails. It's been so sweet watching her get all intense about doing them. It's become a thing now and it really helps to see her doing something just for me."

"It wasn't me. I told her she needed to do something to let you know she was committed to you, but that was entirely her idea. I remember that night and I was just as shocked as you."

"Wow. She came up with that on her own?"

"Yeah."

"I just figured she asked you for any idea. If I had known it was all her idea, I would have forgiven her more. I feel even better about our little plan then."

Margaret didn't say anything else, but Melanie noticed that Margaret snuggled up close to Jo on the car ride home.

When they got to Katie and Melanie's home, they exchanged their Christmas gifts. Katie, Melanie and Jo all got ankle bracelets, which after their night over the summer was no surprise. They also got assorted clothes and personal items for each other. Once they were done with the gifts, Melanie was sitting on the couch with Katie and Jo was sitting on one of the chairs with Margaret sitting in her lap.