VIRAGO

blatherskite

blatherskite (n.) - a person who talks at great length without making much sense; a foolish person

They got through their final group play game with little to no problems, pushing themselves over their opponent with a three-nil win. They were all excited to be heading into the quarterfinals that evening. Since they had a lot of time between their games, they were treated to a nice lunch out for making it into the knockout stages of the tournament. They all loaded up on carbs, Samantha getting herself some tortellini at the restaurant they were at. She only ate half of it, saving the other half for after the game to eat on the way back to the hotel, and so she did not load herself up on food before playing, even though it was not for another few hours. They were all buzzing with excitement as they talked about the game they had just played and going into the quarterfinals, and they were going to head back to the fields right after lunch so they could catch the back half of the game that would determine who they were versing. By the time the last game of group play was done, every team moving on would have two to three hours before they played again, but the Pirates were lucky enough to have one of the first games of the day and had the afternoon to recuperate.

The Pirates arrived back at the field a little after noon, so there were still some games going on, considering the last games were supposed to end at three and quarterfinal games started at five. There would be four teams playing at a time, four at five and four at seven, that way they could watch the games they were going to go against for the semifinals Sunday morning. They watched the rest of the game consisting of the team they would be versing that evening, Samantha taking mental notes about how each team played. There was a team from the Macomb area, Dakota High School, which she had heard of considering how huge the school was, and the other a team she recognized well - her old school, the Pioneers of Pioneer High School. Every boy on that team she recognized, and when the whistle blew, she watched as they celebrated their win over the Cougars, and they found out who they were versing that evening.

"Alright guys, what do we think? Game plan for this evening, now that we've watched them play." Coach Wallace asked them.

"Coach Marcus likes to play his defense tight like ours, so the forwards are going to know how to deal with it. He's also a major ass so he's gonna want his players to take any foul they can against us. Their two forwards have chemistry like Peter and George do - they're incredibly fast and have been playing together up top for years. You got your mids, who aren't as fast but they can cover a lot of ground and they're super aggressive on and off the ball, so watch your backs. Their goalkeeper isn't much but he can stop anything right at him, directly to the upper sides of him, and anything up by the crossbar. Aim low - he hates diving." Samantha quickly explained before anyone could get a say, for she had been bottling it all up and remembering how her school played. The girls would sometimes practice with the guys during the offseason, but their playing styles were so similar that she knew how to play against them. After all, she played the same way for the last three years.

"You got all of that just by watching?" Nash asked with a small chuckle.

"No, but after playing with the Pioneers for three years under the same coach, you know what to expect." She answered with a laugh of her own. "It's my old school and Marcus coached both the girls and guys varsity soccer teams, so I know how they're gonna work."

"Well damn we gotta spy." George commented.

"A good one too. Alright, you heard the lass, we know how to play against this as well, we saw it in our last game. Our wingers gotta stay wide and open so we can try to stretch their defense to get in on goal. They're gonna try and do the same thing to us, but we already know that and know how to go against that. Shoot at the low corners or driven shots to side netting." Wallace told them as the Pioneers started to walk past them, some of them instantly recognizing her.