The Match

Pat and Isabel woke up and looked out the window. What a perfect day; blue skies with only one or two clouds, which was good, it shouldn't get to hot. It was the perfect day to play a game of lacrosse. Both girls had proven to the school since they had come here that they were not only good at tennis and hockey, but they also had a natural talent for Lacrosse, which had surprised even them considering when they came to St Clare's they had vowed not to like it. Due to this it had been decided that they were to be made heads of sports.

After quite a noisy breakfast, all the girls who were to play in the match today climbed onto the waiting bus and then they were off. The trip seemed to take ages, but they eventually turned around a bend and saw a big building with four towers, one on each end, and partly covered by Ivy. Although beautiful, it was not as beautiful as St Clare's the twins thought. A few minutes later they pulled up at the school. Waiting for them were quite a number of girls in the brown school uniform. A tall girl then approached the group of girls once they had gotten off the bus.

"Hi, I am Darrell Rivers, I am the head of sports at Malory Towers," Darrell said introducing herself to the team. "Let me show you to your change rooms." At this the girl then turned around and led the way to a nice change room. Once there the girl spoke up.

"Do you need anything else?."

The girls looked around, there was everything they needed.

"No thank you, everything we need is here."

"Okay, well is 15 minutes enough time to get ready?" yhe girl asked.

At this the girls nodded.

After the girl had gone, Isabel spoke up.

Meanwhile, Darrell was walking into the Malory Towers change room. On seeing her, everyone fell quiet.

"The St Clare girls are just settling in, they seem to match us on size, so I am sure it will be a fair game. From previous experience they play well for the whole match, so don't tire yourself out at the start if you can help it." Darrell then looked at her watch.

"Okay, let's go."

Meanwhile, Isabel was just finishing her talk and Pat spoke up.

"Remember girls, make St Clare's proud, let's go!"

Both teams were lined up on the field facing each other with the umpire in the middle. There were also quite a few Malory Towers' girls around as they were always interested in watching the oldest girls play. They were the best in the school after all.

"Okay girls you know the rules, so stick to them. Captains call a side," the umpire said. At this she threw the coin. Darrell spoke up.

"Heads."

It landed tails, so Isabel picked a side.

A minute later the ball was in play. It was taken by a St Clare's girl who quickly shot up the other end of the field. Just before she went to shoot, a Malory Towers' girl took the ball and ran down the other end. The ball went up and down quite quickly, neither team being able to shoot. Then suddenly Isabel had the ball and also a clear shot of the goal. She threw the ball with her strong arms and even though the Malory Towers' girl tried vainly to save it, a goal was scored by St Clares.

Five minutes later the score was evened up by Sally Hope from Malory Towers gaining the ball and through sheer talent, determination, and team playing she managed to get the ball to the other end, and then shoot a goal. At this the reasonable sized crowd that has not been reached cheered wildly. The score was even and it was half time.

At half time the St Clares gathered around Isabel and congratulated her. Pat could only smile, her twin had shot a goal. She was so happy for her, it was almost as good as if she had they sucked on their lemons and caught their breath.

After a minute Isabel spoke up.

"The Malory Towers' girls are good, they are not tiring easily, so keep up the good game, shoot if you can, and if you need to, pass on to someone else."

Meanwhile something extremely similar was being said by Darrell in the Malory Towers circle.

Soon the break was over and the girls swapped ends. Then the ball was in play again. Suddenly a St Clare girl got the ball and ran for the goal, she threw. Unfortunately for her the Malory Towers goal keeper saw the ball coming and saved it.

Back in play, the ball went up and down the field between all the girls. Both teams were well matched in skill and also in the size of the girls so it was a good fast match. Before the girls knew it, the referee was telling them there was only ten minutes left. A second later Pat got the ball and after having it knocked out of her stick, then having it passed back to her. After another St Clare's girl has tackled with the Malory Towers girl. Pat had the ball and was running towards the goal. She could see the goalie getting ready to defend, but she threw it anyway and watched as the ball went down the field and hit the ground just outside the goal. At this Pat groaned, so close she thought. Then slowly the ball rolled into the Goal, and she had scored a goal for St Clare's. They were now one up on Malory Towers with only 5 minutes to go.

By this stage the girls from Malory Towers had started up a chant.

"Shoot, Malory Towers, Shoot!" and were singing quite loudly. The ball went up and back down the field. A St Clare's girl had it and Darrell ran up to her, and tackled her for it. She successfully gained the ball and ran with all her might down the other end of the field. Once she was close enough she threw the ball at the goal, hoping that her judgment was right. Her judgment did prove to be right and the ball went straight into the goal. The St Clare's goalie couldn't even stop it.

Just then the Umpire called for the game to finish. They had drawn, but Darrell had saved it from being a loss to Malory Towers. She ran down to the other end of the field where everyone was congregating. Everyone was happy, even though they had drawn, it didn't matter.

So after shaking hands both teams then went off to a delicious lunch. There were mini sausages, cakes, salad, meat, everything that they would want. So after all the plates had been finished and every girl had claimed that she couldn't eat another bite. The Malory Tower girls walked the St Clare girls back to the bus and waved them off. It had been a good day for everyone. Darrell and Sally linked arms and went for a walk around the school. Meanwhile, on the bus, Pat and Isabel sat on the bus tired, but happy, talking about the match.