Stonewall vs. Kale

You stand as eleven on your side of the pitch, dressed in grey, facing off against the Kale Blue.

Kickoff: A Kale winger gets the ball almost immediately after and begins dribbling down the right side of the pitch, hard touches carrying him and the ball fast. Katie is onto him, and you’re not far off, ready to take him should he beat her. He makes the reasonable play and passes back to a midfielder, but Khloe’s pivoted up and cuts in to intercept the ball.

There’s a quick jostle between the two, but Khloe ends up with the ball. She plays it up to Jack with a short pass, and the ball leaves your half. You push up, keeping a wary eye on the big midfielder.

The Kale striker is fast, and she controls the ball like it’s nobody’s business. Case in point, she beats out both Khloe and Katie with two quick touches, and all of a sudden it’s down to you to get the ball out of her feet.

She’s further in than you on the field, so you sprint at a diagonal to close the gap, aiming to cut her off with some healthy distance to the box to spare. The name on her jersey—WRIGHT–flutters as she abruptly speeds up, and for a second, it looks like she might break away from you. You put on a burst of speed, trying to run her down, but it’s going to be close, and you see the way her eye is darting towards the goal, Keegan ready to dive at a moment’s notice…

You’re not going to let it get to that point. You push yourself harder, willing each step to carry you further, and then she’s within arm’s reach. You drive forwards, sticking a leg out, throwing yourself off balance, but it gets the job done—your foot connects with the ball and it spins out, crossing the sidelines.

As your teammates rush to the throw-in, you take a second to bend over, breathing heavily.

“Nice clear,” the Kale striker says, her long brunette hair up in a ponytail. Unlike you, she hardly seems winded from the play.

“Yeah… thanks,” you manage, shaking your head. You’ve been out of shape since your stint in the hospital, and it looks like you’re starting to pay the price. You hurriedly get into position, marking the Kale striker, and she shoots you a disarming grin that almost makes you miss the ball coming onto the pitch.

The score is still nil-nil, but there have been a couple close calls. Half-time’s coming soon, and your feet are dragging. You’ve been trying to conserve your strength, letting others take some plays, but it’s been a close match, meaning you’ve had to do quite a lot of legwork regardless.

All of a sudden, the ball comes hurtling down your side of the pitch again. A big Kale midfielder manoeuvres around Katie, his size letting him muscle his way around her, and you keep an eye on the hot Kale striker. Khloe has pressure on the midfielder, but the striker makes a dash into open space, and your delayed reaction gives her the fraction of a second needed for the pass to complete.

She breaks away, heading straight down the side of the pitch, and you chase her heels, determined not to lose this one. She’s quick, so you push yourself harder, but your lungs are burning, your legs fatigued, and after a few seconds on the chase, it becomes clear that you’re not going to be able to stop her.

You drop back, heading off the midfielder who’s been coming up to support her, falling into a slower jog that you can barely maintain after that sprint. Wright, the Kale Striker, notices that you’ve dropped the chase on her, and eyes fixed on the goal, she begins to cut in. You can see her lining up the shot in her eyes. Keegan has a stone-cold look of concentration cut on his face. She pulls a leg back…

Mars comes in from behind, having sprinted in just in time. The Kale striker tries to move the ball out of the way, but she’s too slow—Mars slides in just as the striker’s foot comes down, and she hits both leg and ball with the slide-tackle, toppling the striker onto the ground and sending the ball flying off the side.

The goal is safe, for now.