Today is the day of the final and all of the players have their nerves on the outside and they are all giddy they know that they have a great chance to win and they are going to the best that they can so that it will happen.
Spencer was walking around the camp and her parents had been her for a few days they had seen the semifinal that had been two days earlier and if that had been a tough game this was sure going to be even tougher.
This would be the third time that they would go up against Bailey and Madisons' team and that was once of the hardest tasks there was but then again, it was probably the two strongest teams at this camp, the winning team would have a chance to play against another winning team from another camp before the camp next summer like an opening game for both of the camps next year.
"okay girls I want you all to go to one of the pitches not the one that we are going to be playing the game at just yet, I would prefer if it's one that is a bit from the pitch that we are playing at and start your warm up." Cameron said to them all and gave each and every one of them a look. "One more thing, Davies you are in charge make sure that they all warm up good, I don't want any injures."
"You heard, Cameron." Ashley said as she began to walk to one of the pitches and all of the players were walking behind her.
And as they all were down at one of the pitches they began to jog around the field for about 15-20 minutes to make sure that they were all warmed up and after that they all began to stretch and that took them about 10-15 minutes after that Cameron came walking down to them.
"Okay I want you to get together in 3 groups of four or five players and begin to pass the ball around and one of you are going to be in the middle trying to break the pass. And Sarah you are coming with me." Cameron stated.
"ooh." Some of the girl said.
"What did you do know Sarah." Someone else said, they all needed something that would take some of the stress away from them and this was one thing that they could use as a stress reviler. And as Sarah heard that she just stuck her tongue out at the players that was messing with her and she had learned to take that during the summer.
The players continued their warm up and Cameron helped Sarah with the warm up in the goal and after about 20 minutes the warm up was done and they could begin to get to the field where they would be playing the final.
As the players came to the field they was standing by one side of the field just taking in what they saw around them there was players from the teams that hadn't made it to the final and there were parents and other family members there. It had been built some kind of grandstand for the audiences that were there to see the game.
"Okay girls, I know that this might be new for some of you but this is just like any other game. Just relax and enjoy." Cameron said and looked at all of us as we now were sitting down at the side.
"I know that this might be the last chance for some of us to win this tournament but I hope that you and all of you will do your very best and empty all of the energy that you have in this game because this is the last game for the summer." Ashley said and she had been named the captain in this game as any other game of the playoff.
"I hope that you take it to your heart what Ashley said." Cameron said and smiled at all of us and then she continued. "I know that you want to know who of you that are going to play and, it will be as follow, Sarah you in goal but that you already knew." And all of began to laugh, it was something that they needed and it was great that Cameron was able to joke around this close to the start of the game.
"And as defender we will have, Katie and Julie as center backs and then on the left we will have Alex and on the right we start with Hannah. The midfielders are Ollie in the position that you normally have and you will have Belle in front of you and on the wings we will have Ashley and Mia. Davies, you are captain as always and as forwards we will start with Spencer and Sam." Cameron said "and as subs we will have Brooke, Kylie and Chelsea, and I can promise that you all will be playing at some point in this game. And one more thing, Jessie is here to see this game so if you don't have a reason before why you shouldn't do your best I know that this will be a good one. Have fun and enjoy the time that you have left together."
"I hope that you all happy with this and I hope that you once again will do your best and remember this can be a long game, with overtime and maybe even penalty shot outs, so I hope that you all will listen to what Cameron is saying. Because she has been in this position as a player before." Ashley said and smiled.
Spencer was standing between Sam and Belle, just as they were about to walk in to the field. Ashley was standing first of them and after her there was Sarah and after that they were standing in numerous orders.
Finally it was time for them to walk out to stand on the field and soon the game would start it was just presentation of the teams that was playing and the referees and the nationalanthem.
Ashley was standing with the referees and Bailey that was captain in the other team they were about to see who was going to start the game.
"Okay, ladies I know what I want from this game and I think you know too." The referee said and both Bailey and Spencer were nodding they knew what they wanted and that was clear to everyone what it was about.
It turned out that the other team got to start the game this time and it was nothing more they could do. The first fifteen minutes of the game was hard, and they did all they could to defend their goal and they managed to do so but there had been a lot of free kicks and both Katie and Hannah had managed to get booked and the bookings had been necessary otherwise they would probably have been one or two goals down and so far they had managed to keep the score to nil all.
Belle got the ball from Alex and she took a few steps forward and the turned around and passed the ball to Ollie. They wanted to keep the ball in the team for a few passes so that they could start to build their own game.
Sam was take a run to open up a part of the field for Ollie to play the to and Ashley was running to that place and the brunette got the ball and she advanced a few meters and then played the ball back to Belle and Belle in her turn changed to the other wing to get the ball to Mia and then she advanced along her wing and then crossed the all over to Ashley that then just passed the ball back to Sam. Sam chose to end the play by going on a shoot and it went outside the post but they had managed to get there game play to work and this was just to work even more on this soon enough it would be good for them.
The half continued just like it had been before but just in the last minute of the half the other team got a penalty after one of the defenders had gotten the ball on the hand and it had been to her favor.
Sarah was a good goalie so there was still the chance of her saving this penalty shot. Bailey was walking up from her normal position; she was going to be the executor of this penalty. Bailey place the ball where it was supposed to be at, she took about five steps back, Sarah was looking Bailey in the eyes trying to get her to tell her with her eyes were the shot will be at but that was something that Sarah didn't get from the other girl.
Sarah took a chance that was all that she could do but she did the first move; she had hoped that Bailey would do that but the executor didn't do that, there for it was an easy task for Bailey to place the ball in the net.
And there it was, they were down by one and the first half was over. This goal was hard on them mentally; it was one in the back in the last minute of the half.
The second half was about to start and the team looked like it had in the first half besides the fact that Brooke took Hannahs' place on one of the defender wings.
Sam and Spencer started the half with the ball and not much happened for the first 10 minutes and after that Cameron made a couple of substitutes and Chelsea got one of the wings and Kylie got the other wing and Ashley was pushed up so that they played 4-3-3 at the moment, they needed some players that could hold the ball and besides that they needed to start the press higher up on the field and that meant that they needed to have more players that could participate in that.
About 10 minutes after those changes it all seemed to work for the better and the team had a few chances but most of them were just half chances, it was shots from a long distance that was that hard for the goalie to save.
Spencer got a pass from Sam and advances a few steps when one of the defenders got caught up with her and began to yank in her shirt to get her to slow down and the referee saw that and booked the defender and the team got a free-kick and Alex jogged up this was her place, she was the one that was going to kick this, and Katie, Sam and Julie was in the penalty box and so was Ollie, both Spencer and Ashley was standing outside the box, they were supposed to take the second wave if there was one.
Alex hit the ball and soon it was in the air, and both Sam and Julie missed the ball when they went up for a header the defenders missed the ball to and then Katie was there and she just touched the ball with her head and changed the direction of the ball so that the goalie had no chance of saving the ball and all of them watch how the ball was sailing towards the net and then it hit the post and somehow Sam had managed to get a new position so that she could get the ball and she shot the ball in the net, it was equalized after all.
The game continued on like this it was not that many chance for both team and that was something that both team was nervous about and the coaches tried to get some information out to the players so that they would know how they should be playing.
With 15 minutes left of the game if there wouldn't be any overtime, the other team got a pass in between the center backs and one of the strikers in the other team was going for the ball and managed to get the ball under control and she was alone with Sarah, and Sarah managed to get out and take the ball from the striker just in front of her feet. Sarah threw the ball as long as she could and Ashley got the ball and passed it back to Ollie, they all knew that they needed to keep the ball in the team so that they could take a step down and start to play their own game. They started to play just like they knew that they should and it looked great and Spencer got the ball from Chelsea and soon she had passed the ball to Ashley that was advancing a few meters and then she passed the ball to Sam that passed the ball back to Spencer that managed to get alone with the goalie and she placed the ball in the far corner and the ball hit the bottom of the post and then went in the goal, that meant that they were in the lead and it was about seven minutes left of the game and that meant that they needed to start defending and not relax and be focus.
As every team there is out there you are just as strong as the weakest link and, you are also weak just after you have scored a goal, and there is where they were now and it wasn't that much left of the game.
The audience that was watching the game was cheering, there were family members to the players and the other teams were there also.
Paula and Arthur were looking and they could see that Spencer was in her natural environment and that meant that they had made the right decision. A decision that no one knew about just yet and that was something that they wouldn't tell anyone just yet it was going to be a surprise.
The other team got a free-kick just a couple of meters outside the box area, Sarah started to set up the wall of players that she wanted and she knew that this was one of the last chances that would be in this game, it was on stoptime already.
Bailey and Madison was up there and so was everyone except two of the defenders and Kim one the midfielders on the other team was standing with the ball and she was lifted the ball in to the box and Madison was the first one to get to the ball and she headed the ball to the goal but Sarah managed to save it the first time but she couldn't hold the ball and there was someone there to get the return of the ball and they shot the ball to the goal and there she was once again and managed to save the ball and this time she managed to hold the ball.
Just as Sarah was about to kick the ball out the referee blew the whistle telling them that the game was over. The last match of the tournament was over and they had won.
They had won the final just as they had been dreaming about and this had been harder than they ever thought it would have been. And in the background they could hear how the winner takes it all was playing.
It was time for the all of the team that had made to the semifinals to come and get there prizes. Besides prizes for the teams there would also be some kind of prizes for the best players, the ones that had showed how much they had progressed and of course the ones that meant the most for their own teams.
"Can we get the captain for the winning team up here to get the trophy?" One of the announcers said and Ashley walked the way up there so that she could get that trophy. As she took the trophy she kissed it just like the always did and then she raised it above her head and screamed out, she was just happy. Soon after that all of the team was standing in a ring jumping around just like crazy just like they had done when they had won the game.
"Okay so here is the winning team can we get applause for them." And after that everyone in audience cheered them on and soon there was going to be some more of this ceremony.
Ashley was looking around ever since her mother had been here to visit she had said that she would be here for the final and Ashley couldn't see her mother anywhere. She knew that she shouldn't be disappointed that the older woman wasn't there but once again she had been let down and it was harder and harder every time that happened.
"We have a few prizes that we need to get out to all of the players that are supposed to get one."
Everyone was lining up, this was one of the biggest thing that happened during the camp.
"Okay we are going to start with the players that are the best on their positions. best defender Bailey Johnson, can she come up here." Bailey began to get up to the podium and got her prizes, this was the first time.
"then we have the best midfielder, Kimberly Brown." And there was no one that went up, "Okay maybe I should say, Kim Brown, and that was when she went up to the podium.
"And then we have the best goalie, and that is no other than Sarah Crawford." And she got a round of applause as she walked up there.
"And the last one we have for the best player in their position if for best forward and the winner there is Ashley Davies." And as Ashley heard that she was surprised, she hadn't played forward that much. That was what she thought, she didn't think of that they had three forwards in many of the games they had played.
Spencer was happy for all of the players and there was something that she thought of was that many of the players that had won had their last year here as a player.
"We have a prize for the players that have been a great part of the teams and maybe even the most important ones in their own teams and something that is important to think about is that you don't have to be the best player, it is important to be a part of the team. This award goes to that player that sees what the best for the team instead of themselves." The speaker said. "We have normally this award for one player in every team but this year it will be different it will just go to one player." The speaker continued. "And we have a winner, this gilr have seen what is best for her team and never complain on teammates or the players she have gone up against. I don't think that we have seen here lash out on a referee. She is a great role model for all of us and we hope that we will be seeing her again for many years to come and not forget about us when she is reaching her goals."
Everyone looked around and was trying to figure out who the player the speaker was talkining about was and no one knew who it was not even the player herself.
"So will please put your hands together for the winner of this years' 'perfect player'" the speaker said and everyone there put their hands together. "And the winner this year is Spencer Carlin."
Spencer was shocked to hear that she was the winner, this was the biggest thing that you could win and she did this the first year that she was here, and as she was walking up the podium everyone was clapping and cheering her on.
