Chapter One
Tris POV
"Tobin!" I called, "I'm open!" Tobin, across the field, picked her head up and saw me. With a strong kick, she passed it right ahead, exactly where I wanted it- I took it in my stride without even slowing. I dribbled up the left wing and glanced up. Abby, taller than everyone else, was being marked by a defender who was nowhere near Abby's height. I took one more touch and crossed the ball, which went sailing over everyone's head. Abby jumped up and connected her head with the ball. The ball flew into the top left corner of the net, past the Chinese goalkeeper. Goal! I ran over to Abby and we hugged and celebrated. I heard the announcement being made.
"Goal for the United States of America by number twenty, Abby Wambach. Assist by number six, Beatrice Prior!" I celebrated with my team as we jogged back to our half of the field. We were up 5-0 in the 83rd minute, in the second game of the group stage in the Algarve Cup. We had already played one group stage game, against Iceland, which we had won 3-0, with goals by me, Alex, and Abby. Now, we had already won the second game of the group stage. If we won our final group stage match, which would be against Sweden in a couple of days, we would play in the final against the winner of Group A. Now that we had won our first two games, I was fairly confident that we would make it to the final, as long as we didn't lose to Sweden.
We played for just about five more minutes, trying to waste time and keep possession, and not worrying about trying to score. Finally, the ref's whistle blew. The players on the bench ran flooded the field and we all joined in a group hug. I smiled to myself. Even though we were all professionals, sometimes we didn't act like it-understandably, though, because as professional athletes, winning really is everything. We celebrated for a couple more minutes, and then it was time for interviews.
I personally enjoyed interviews. Even though the media is annoying sometimes, interviews are always really exciting for me. This is because this has been my dream, ever since I was seven years old and watching the '99ers on TV. Besides the fact that soccer is my passion, one reason I enjoy my job so much is that I get to inspire today's generation of soccer-playing girls just like the previous generation inspired me. I know exactly what it's like to be one of those little girls watching in the stands or on TV and dreaming to be there one day. I'm interviewed by someone from USA Today. She asks me my thoughts on the game, my opinion of my team's performance in the tournament so far, and my opinion on girls being overly committed to one sport at too young of an age. For the first two questions, my answer is relatively the same; I say that we've done a good job so far, and we've definitely proving the world why we won the gold medal at the London games. But the third question happens to be a topic that I have strong feelings about.
"well, I personally grew up playing many sports-soccer, track, volleyball, and softball, and I think that was good for me. I had so much fun playing all these sports and I think it's a really good experience to grow up being well-rounded. If someone commits to one sports fully at such a young age, there are so many restrictions that they are putting on themselves." I reply.
"Thank you, and good luck at Monday's game against Sweden. I'm sure we'll all be watching and cheering you on from home."
"Thank you," I say, and I proceed onto the locker room. As soon as I get there, I pull out my phone to reply to all the congratulatory messages from back home. There are texts from the older brother, Caleb, and from my college friends, Christina, Shauna, Marlene, Zeke, Uriah, and Will. They all say essentially the same thing-'good job' or 'nice goal' or 'great assist'. Christina's is different though, it's longer.
Christina- hey tris. nice game, you kicked ass out there. anyway, four is getting married, and we're all gonna be there so I figured maybe you'd want to come? I know it will be awkward, but you can ignore four and have fun with everyone else. Don't even buy them a present. Xoxo, chris