Game on...
Kasey takes her place on the field and jumps up and down three times while she waits for the referee to blow the opening whistle.
"Anyone interested in placing a bet on the winner?" Ashlyn asks the players around her and gets no takers. "What about you KO, you wanna put some money on your girl?"
Kelley looks at the goalkeeper, "Alright, the 20 you still owe me on Kasey and Capital City, winning." She and Ashlyn shake hands, "Deal. Guess I'm cheering for ... what's the other team?"
"Limestone College, Harris."
"Right, let's go Limestone!"
They all laugh at the goalkeeper's sorry attempt at cheering for the visitors.
The whistle finally sounds and the Limestone Lions player taking the kick-off turns and passes it back allowing them to begin moving forward. The game plan instilled in them by their Coach, to come out flying and catch the home team on their heels. The visitor's pass, pass, pass and one pass too many find Sarah intercepting and looking for someone to pass off to. Not having any teammates making moves, she passes it back to Jen in hopes that the midfielder can get them moving. Jen passes the ball over and then sees the ball passed back to Hayley playing high in the box before it comes back to her.
Hayley seeing Emily with space in the midfield sends a long kick in her direction and then watches as her teammates join the rush. The Crusaders play the ball back and forth, short passes looking for space but only seeing a wall of red bodies in front of them. Jen accepts the ball and then looking, decides to send a shot from distance and surprise everyone with it.
Striking it hard, the opposing keeper is able to get her gloves on it and knock it down, but unable to secure the rebound before another shot, courtesy of Sarah comes her way, a body gets in the way of the shot and the ball remains loose in the box until Kasey is able to get her foot on it and direct it to the netting. 10 minutes into the match and the crowd cheers for their hometown team and Captain as she notches her 15th goal on the season.
A replay of the goal shows on the large scoreboard as the players make their way back to the midpoint of the field for the restart, followed up by the announcement, "Crusaders goal scored by your Captain, #5 Kasey ..... Wild!!" The words "Wild Thing," flash on the board and the crowd gets loud, cheering.
25 minutes into the game and the Crusaders turn over possession in their own end, with the Lions pouncing on the open ball. A shot on target dings off the post and unfortunately for them the rebound comes right back to a player in red, who is then easily able to tuck it past a prone Hayley, tying up the match at 1.
Kasey can tell her team is starting to tire with the running game of the opposition keeping them moving. On the backline, Hayley was keeping her teammates in the game, making a couple of difficult saves look routine. Having just knocked a shot over the ball for a Limestone corner, the Crusaders were getting into position with Kasey calling out instructions to them. As the ball came in, Hayley was able to track it and attempted to get her gloves on it, only to have her jump blocked by one of her own teammates, who didn't hear her calling out. The ball went across the box and was headed into the netting, putting Limestone on top 2 - 1 just before the end of the half.
"These teams are really close in skill, no wonder the match up has received so much attention."
Kelley nods in response to Alex's comment and adds, "I'm sure Kasey's face being plastered all over the place and on-screen had nothing to do with it."
Alex looks at her friend and laughs, "You've got it bad for her, don't you, Worms?"
Kelley looks at her rather sheepishly and smiles, causing Alex to laugh at her.
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.
With play resuming, Lori promptly coughed up the ball on her first possession and left Hayley with no other alternative than to come racing out and attempt to reach the ball before the speedy Lion forward. Hayley made her move but in the process clipped the opposing player and sent her flying over her. The referee was left with no choice other than to pull the red card from her pocket and show it to Hayley as she got back up to her feet. As a consequence, the goalkeeper was not only out of this game but suspended for the one to follow as well and Capital City would finish the game with only 10 players on the field.
The referee made her way over to the sidelines, "Capital City, you need a keeper."
Coach Smith nodded and then looked over at her Captain. As Hayley made her way off the field, the trainer ran back into the changeroom and collected Kasey's gloves and her black goalkeeper shirt, bringing them to her.
Eyes began to go wide and chants of "Wild Thing, Wild Thing" began to fill the stadium as the crowd realized what was taking place on the field below.
"Grandma, Mom is going to be the goalkeeper, now." Kylie stood and cheered as her Mom made her way over to the sidelines.
Kelley stood and watched as Kasey removed her Captain's armband and handed it to Jen before her teammates formed a circle around her, allowing her some privacy as she quickly removed her green jersey and replaced it with the black keeper one. Jen then passed her back the armband and she placed it back on her arm where it belonged. She pulled on her rather beaten up goalkeeper gloves, ripping away at the Velcro straps until they were right and tight.
Kasey looked over at their Coach and nodded before then jogging down the field, shaking out her arms and hands in the process a couple of times before taking her place between the posts.
Kelley was noticeably concerned about the situation and Kailen seeing her watching the current goings-on, left her group and sat down beside her Sky Blue FC teammate. "KO, she will be fine." Kelley looked at Kailen and took a breath, "I hope so."
Kailen smiles, "Trust me, you have nothing to worry about." Kelley looks at her questioningly before focuses back on the field.
Of course, Kailen had seen Kasey in action and knew she would be fine, but she never filled her Sky Blue teammate in only a few of her Canadian teammates, who were now on the edge of their seats like most of the crowd in anticipation as to what would happen.
Play finally got back underway after a lengthy delay with the Lions having a free-kick just outside the box. Kasey did her best to direct the players to form the wall and also reminding the others to watch their players. The Lions players set up behind the ball and when the whistle sounded, exploited space to send the ball, low and hard towards the goal. Kasey got a good read on the play and was able to react accordingly, diving and directing the ball wide and out of play.
"Damn!" Kailen could only laugh at Kelley's reaction to the play.
On the resulting corner kick, Kasey was off her line in a flash jumping and grabbing the ball away from danger. Surprising, the players and crowd alike. Waiting for the players to retreat from the box, Kasey sent her players down the field, lined up her receiver and then sent the ball back into play downfield.
The teams continued to battle for ball possession, with the Lions holding onto it for most of the second half. In the goal, Kasey was getting a workout, as it seemed like her team defence had fallen apart, and the opposition was looking to take full advantage of their tired legs and wanting to test the forward turned keeper. Kasey was solid though and hadn't let anything through.
Limestone looking to add to their lead was making space and pushing the green team back into their zone. Kasey caught a soft shot and held it. Feeling that her team needed a bit of a breather and noticing the opposing keeper was playing high in her box, she wasted no time in punting the ball towards the goal. The ball sailed over the heads of the player's making a hasty retreat, dropping in front of the keeper, and then bouncing over her head as she ran back towards her goal. She gave a good chase but it was clear to all that the ball was labelled for the back of the net. As the Limestone keeper sat on her knees looking at the black and white sphere in the netting, she hung her head.
In the meantime, Kasey was knocked on her ass as her teammates swarmed their keeper and celebrated the goal. Getting to her feet, Jen smiled at her, "Show off."
Kasey smiled, "You know it, now get out there and win it!"
"Yes, Captain, Wild Thing."
Kasey had tied the score while playing goalkeeper, finishing off a hat trick and securing a spot on the evening news highlight reel. The crowd was on their feet, and going nuts cheering Kasey as was Kelley.
The game was tied with under 5 minutes to go and getting rough with the tackles and challenges becoming more aggressive, mostly at the feet of the opposition. The referee's whistle sounded out and a Lion's player was issued a yellow card, then after a bit of pushing a shoving, Sarah found her name in the book as well.
Standing and watching from just above her 18-yard line, Kasey felt helpless. She wanted to be part of the action. Emily went to the ground, struggling to stand back up with having the wind knocked out of her as a result of a knee to the stomach. She shook her head when asked if she needed treatment, knowing that time was already wasting away and they were in a good position to find the winner.
The referee pulled out her spray and marked the spot where the kick was to be taken and then backed the players up with another white line drawn on the field. Kasey looked to her Coach on the sideline, and with a nod, she ran quickly downfield, calling off Sarah who was about to take it.
Seeing the black jersey and purple hair run downfield, caused the crowd to get loud once more and rise to their feet.
"She's taking it," Kelley said loud enough that everyone in close proximity to her heard. Her USWNT teammates and most of the Canadian contingent as well stood up to watch what would happen.
Kasey yelled out to her players to stay alert, chase and watch for rebounds. She lined up the kick, ran and bent it towards the far post where Emily was making a run. A player in red-headed it out, but not far enough, Jen was able to head it back towards the group of players in the box. Sarah made contact and tried to head it down past the keeper, but at the same time Kasey had snuck her foot in and directed it over to Emily who saw nothing but net as she toed the ball over the line.
With time still remaining on the clock, Kasey ran back to her goal, as the opposing goalkeeper dug the ball out of the net.
The Lions restarting the game quickly, knowing they were against the clock. Emily leading the front line was able to get the ball and did her best to waste some time by running down the sideline and to the corner with it.
One more throw-in and pass and the crowd celebrated the final whistles sounding out.
Game over
Capital City 4 - 3 Limestone
Kasey ran from the goal jumped into Jen's arms almost knocking both of them to the ground in the process. They laughed as she jumped down from Jen's arms and ran over to celebrate with their teammates. Once they shook hands with the members of the opposition they returned to the sideline and formed a circle around their Coach as they passed around water and Gatorade.
The team completed a quick cooldown and stretches before Kasey was thrown the game ball.
"I have a feeling that you are going to get a phone call from the administration asking for that ball to put on display."
Kasey nodded, "They can't have it, this one is for Kylie."
Kasey made her way over to the stands and asked for her Mom, Kylie and Brianna to be let down on the field.
She hugged them and handed the ball to her Mom, "Keep this safe for me."
Patricia Wild smiled and nodded and accepted the ball from her as she watched Kylie and Brianna kick around another one on the field behind them.
Kasey heard her name being called and walked over to the stands to sign some autographs, she made sure to thank everyone for their support as she did. They laughed at the keeper after she asked to borrow a phone to check her hair was presentable before posing for some pictures with them.
"Would you like me to sign that for you?" Kasey smiled at the young girl holding up a Wild Thing sign, who nodded. "What's your name?"
"Kasey."
"Really? That's my name too. I like your sign, I could see it on the field; because it's so colourful! Good job!" Kasey signed the poster and gave her a high five before moving down the line and signing a few more programs.
"Good game, Wild Thing," a voice behind her said and she turned around and smiled. "Thank you." They share a quick hug before stepping back from each other.
"So, were you planning on telling me that you were also one hell of a goalkeeper as well?"
Kasey laughed, "It didn't come up in conversation, but, perhaps eventually it would have come out."
"Ash hasn't shut up about your goalie goal."
Kasey laughs, "It wasn't planned, I just knew my side was dealing with some tired legs and wanted to give them a break."
"Regardless, it was pretty impressive as are you, Kasey Wild."
They lock eyes and smile at each other.
"Kase?"
Kasey breaks out of the fog and turns towards her Mom, "Hey, Mom."
"Hi, Kelley."
Kelley smiles, "Hi."
"I promised to have Brianna home soon, so I should head out. Also, Kylie is going to spend the night at my house. I'll see you tomorrow, have a good night, ladies."
"I think your Mom might be on to us."
Kasey lets out a laugh and nods.
"Do you want to come back to the hotel with me? Tobs will in likelihood be with Pressy and I'll have the room to myself. We could order some food and watch a movie. You could umm... maybe stay over if you want, but, no pressure."
Kasey watches and listens to Kelley speak and decided to take the chance on her and it. "That sounds good, do you mind if I grab a quick shower and get changed first?"
"That's fine, I'll wait for you over by the player's entrance. I'm assuming you drove here, right?"
Kasey nods, "I did. We all did, the school wouldn't pay for a bus just to drive us from campus here and back. I'll be out shortly."
Kasey walks towards the tunnel and heads down the hallway to the changeroom, to shower and change.
"All good?" Kasey smiles and nods towards Jen as her friend finishing pack up the contents of her stall.
Kasey walks over to her and sits down, "It's too soon to even think about sleeping with Kelley, right?"
Jen sits down beside her, "I can't answer that question for you, only you can."
Kasey nods before collecting her towel and bag and making her way to the shower area.
Jen makes her way outside and sees Kelley waiting there for Kasey.
"Hey, Jen; good game."
Jen looks at Kelley, "Don't hurt her." She walks away not waiting for a response from the US defender.
Kelley's phone buzzes and she looks down at the screen
New Message
Tobin: Dude, you need to check Instagram
KO: Why?
Tobin: You and Kasey #Kelsey
KO: What is #Kelsey?
Tobin: Your new ship name
Kelley looks up the hashtag #Kelsey and sees the pictures of her from the game cheering Kasey on in her jersey and the hugs that she and Kasey shared at the coffee shop and after the game.
KO: Shit, I need to tell her, what's going on.
Tobin: Good luck bro.
KO: Thanks, Tobs.