Wild Thing

-17-

Down on the sideline, the players take in some fluids as the Coach's give them instructions. Kasey was distracted, looking in the stands for the hazel eyes and smile she was starting to fall for and not finding them. She smiled and gave a little wave towards her daughter, Kylie's friend Brianna and her Mom before continuing to look around in the crowd. 

"You looking for me?" 

Kasey's face lit up when she saw Kelley emerge from the tunnel, "I was asked to do an interview." Kasey smiled and nodded in acknowledgement. "Kase?" Kasey turned around to see Kelley unzip her jacket, leaving her Capital City jersey in full view.

She rejoined her teammates on the sideline feeling energized by the thoughts of Kelley wearing her jersey and also by the fact that there was no way in heck that she wanted to lose in front of her or the National players as a whole. 

Calling them into a circle, Kasey starts, "Limestone is a good team, a tough team, but we are better and stronger than them. We've beaten them before and we can do it again, play hard, play smart and we will. This is our city, our stadium, our crowd and we will not let them down. Hands in, Crusaders on 3 ...1 ...2...3, CRUSADERS, LET'S GO!"

The second half started off with Crusaders taking it to the Lions, Kasey was all over the field, and the ball seemingly magnetized kept finding her. They charged down the field and set up around the 18-yard line and box. Attempt after attempt was blocked, saved or directed away from harm. After the Limestone goalkeeper directed away their corner, Jen was able to trap it and send it back to Kasey, who then let a shot fly towards the upper 90. The goalkeeper jumped but didn't even come close to getting to it before the ball found its place in the mesh and the score was back level at 2. Kasey celebrated her 16th goal on the season and sitting on another brace. She wanted a hat trick and wasn't going to rest until she got it.  

Jen looking over at her friend deep in concentration, had an idea of what was on her mind and knew she would do her best to make it happen for her. 

In the stands, the US team was cheering and having fun trying to keep Kelley under control as the defender had already ditched her jacket in favour of showing off what she was wearing underneath it. 

Some fans noticing that Kelley was repping the familiar green and white shirt of their team, with Kasey's name on the back began taking pictures and video of her and it and posting them on social media. It didn't take long before commenters began questioning if the two were friends or perhaps there was something more going on between the two women. 

Someone added fuel to the fire by posting some pictures of their coffee date and subsequent hug on the Capital City campus. #OHara, #Wild, #CapitalCity began to trend as more people became invested in the possibility of the two being a couple. Fans began calling them #Kelsey and tagging everything with them accordingly. 

On the field, now, in the 70th minute of play, the referee's whistle sounds out and she draws the ire of the pro-Capital City crowd after pointing to the spot and awarding the Lions a penalty on an extremely questionable call. Hayley charged the referee and was issued a yellow for the act, while Kasey continued to argue that the player in question embellished contact to draw the call. It's to no avail as the referee sends Kasey away and before getting things set up for the kick. 

The Lions Captain, Aimee Drouin steps behind the ball to take the shot. She sends Hayley to diving in the wrong direction before sending the ball to the netting on the far side and putting Limestone back on top by a goal.  

Mere minutes later and things begin to get a bit more interesting as Capital City having already used two of their subs is forced to bring on Lori, an inexperienced defender after Suzie, their right-back was left bloody as a result of a stray elbow making contact with her nose and moving it in a direction that it wasn't meant to.