But that didn’t last long! After a good warmup, and barely 5 minutes in, Maya fed Emma in the midfield, who switched it smartly to Addy on the left wing, who all of a sudden found herself with tons of space and enough time to load up a cruise missile from 35 yards out that rocketed over the keeper and under the bar for the early 1-0 lead. First ETIAC goal, first ETIAC lead, and the Red & White were legit fired up.

 

So much so, that we started possessing and passing and feeding into space the best we have all season. The inside midfielders would win the ball, hit the wingers out wide, and Addy and Charlotte and Bianca would send well-paced passes up the line for Ella and Dally and Eva and Sara to run onto. The ball was moving, the pressure on the Raiders defence was constant, we were communicating, and the coaches were in heaven. It had taken two full weeks, but finally we were organized, we were starting to get it, and it was bee-yoo-tiful to see.

 

The hits just kept on a-coming. Ten minutes after the first goal, Emma and Addy teamed up for the Highlight Of The Match when Emma send a hard pass out wide that Player Of The Game Addy (who finished with 2 goals but almost had 4) one-touched sublimely in between two defenders to go in alone on the keeper and clinically finish low. Addy celebrating after the goal: “Sir, I think Emma and I work well together!” Agreed!

 

The Charmin Ultra Soft Feel-Good Play Of The Game came 15 minutes later when Julia ignored her coaches’ instructions shouted from the sideline to play lower, stole an errant pass, attacked the Richmond defence immediately and fired a low bullet that found the right corner for the first goal of her Spartan career – what a play! Her teammates went nuts, and the only smile bigger than Julia’s for the next 5 minutes was the smile on the side of our coach bus…from the picture of Julia.

 

The first half finished 3-0, and despite some weird refereeing, the Red & White were rollin’. Valerie was a rock on defence, clearing everything that came her way. Charlotte was flying up and down the right wing, consistently in position. The midfield kept winning the ball inside and starting attacks outside. And we must have stolen at least a dozen goal kicks, at one point five in a row, maintaining constant pressure and completely frustrating the Raiders keeper.

 

That said, the second half was not as good. We got tired, which meant we didn’t track back and recover as well as we should, which led to poor weak side defensive coverage, which led to some threatening Richmond attacks. And when RRHS scored to make it 3-1 on a rebound off a direct kick, the lead suddenly felt less safe. But Ella ran onto a Charlotte pass and crossed it to Maya who one-timed it for her first Spartan goal, and the comfy three-goal cushion was back.

 

Final score 4-1 for your Spartans, but not before Emma provided the Quote Of The Game after badly missing a penalty shot late with 5 minutes left: “I think I’ll tell people it wasn’t me. I’ll tell them it was Dally.”

 

Go Spartans!