Dangerous Play

11 » game day (ii)

Olivia hesitated a moment too long. A short Legends midfielder crashed into her as she drew her foot back to pass, coming away victorious with the ball. The other girl darted down the field with her prize.

She didn't get far. Olivia had immediately given chase, catching up to the shorter girl and trying to poke the ball away from her. One of her cleats made contact, sending the ball spinning out of bounds over the sideline.

Another Legends player jogged up to take the throw-in. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched the defender with the neon green cleats—the one who'd elbowed me earlier—as her teammate prepared to toss the ball.

She threw the ball toward the defender. I leapt into action, catching Neon Cleats off guard and snatching the ball away before she could touch it. She cursed and gave chase, but I was already several yards in front of her.

I beelined for the goal. Behind me and to the left, Rose mirrored my run, while Zala lined up with the last defender and gave me a curt nod.

Heavy breaths behind me told me that Neon Cleats was catching up. Time was running out. I looked straight ahead, noting a gap between two defenders. I could try to take the ball to goal myself, or...

I slotted the ball between the defenders just as Neon Cleats appeared in my peripheral vision. Zala sprinted forward at the same time. She reached the ball before either defender could react and fired a powerful shot on goal.

The ball arced high in the air and spun toward the back of the net. Then, a pair of well-worn black gloves snatched the sphere out of the air. The Legends goalie cradled the ball to her chest, falling to the turf dramatically.

I cursed under my breath, peeved but simultaneously impressed by the save. Zala had a powerful foot and deadly aim; stopping a shot of hers was no small feat.

"Next time for sure!" I called in encouragement, backing up as the goalie prepared to send the ball back out. Zala gave me a quick thumbs up, and play resumed.

By halftime, the score was still 0-0, though we had been hard-pressed to keep it that way. Neon Cleats seemed to hold a grudge against me for the whole elbowing incident. She'd gotten in several more cheap shots, each and every one of them ignored by the referee. Then again, I wasn't exactly playing clean either.

"God, this ref sucks," Rose complained, as we settled down by the sideline. "That one pushy defender literally bowled me over from behind and he didn't say anything! That was clearly a foul."

"The one with the ugly neon green cleats?" Felicity asked. "Looks like she's been shoving everyone around."

"That's the one."

I snorted, readjusting my ponytail. "This ref hasn't called anything on anyone. I don't think he's even watching the game."

Vehement agreement came from everywhere. I glanced around, taking in the frustration rolling off of my teammates.

Coach stood some distance away, gazing out at the field. He usually gave us the first few minutes of halftime for us to discuss what we'd noticed while playing. Judging by the tense lines of his shoulders and back, he wasn't thrilled with our performance this half.

I took a deep breath. "Well, I'll be damned if we let a bad ref ruin our game. We're better than this team! They have that one pushy defender and a speedy forward, and that's basically it. We can turn this around."

Felicity nodded. "Abby's right. Shake off the first half, and let's get back out there and show them what we're made of!"

"We've been playing too carefully," Zala added. "This half, we attack, and we attack hard. That ball is going in the back of the net, no matter what."