Showdown Tonight,
by Kenzie Jeffries, Concord Heights Times Intern
Hello there from Kellerville! It is your favorite Concord Heights Times Intern, and I am absolutely stoked for the upcoming match against Abanhfleft that I want to get right to it! I’ll summarize our Northwest Kalactin match towards the end, but I have had a lot go on ever since arriving here. We know what this game means for the Fillies, we win the game, we win the group and get that all-important first round bye. If we lose by three or less goals, the group is probably still ours as long as we take care of business against that Mountains team in the group stage finale. If we lose by five or more goals, I think we will all scream and pound our heads on the wall or the desk, or wherever else may be convenient before we then realize that we would need help from Northwest Kalactin to win the group. If we lose by exactly four goals, then the next tiebreaker would be goals scored. We lead Abanhfleft by seven in that currently, so if we lost by four, we would have a three goal advantage before our game against the Mountains team, and we scored on them pretty well last time. To sum that up, “Just win, baby!”
I was looking around to see what other media outlets, particularly Abanhfleft sources, were saying about this pivotal game, but I got sidetracked into reading something about the Di Bradini Cup. That’s a soccer tournament that Cassadaigua stopped participating in after the last edition because CASE (Cassadagan Association for Soccer Excellence) decided that they did not feel like the tournament was about youth development, like it should be, and that there was too much pressure put on the youth players to get wins and a possible title, rather then to develop their soccer skills. With the Sporting World Cup, another soccer tournament that is a “U-18" instead of “U-21" increasing in popularity, CASE felt, and I agree, that it would be that tournament that we would focus on for youth development. Anyway, Graham O’Doherty, the author of a recent article sickened me with his first sentence, “You know what, guys? I've had it. I've had enough. I have had it with these motherfucking Fleftic youth teams losing in the motherfucking Round of 16 of the motherfucking Di Bradini Cup.” I did get permission from by bosses here at the Concord Heights Times, and regular beat writer Chelsea Dufresne before quoting that with the expletives included. My professors would have wanted that omitted, but hey, they aren’t editing this article. That comment sickens me not because of the language, but because of the attitude of a respected journalist towards youth players in his country. That is PRECISELY the reason Cassadaigua left the Di Bradini Cup. The expectations of success over the real purpose of the tournament, which is youth development. That comment made me want to interview CASE President Taylor Connolly, but I am sure she would absolutely agree with me. Right, Taylor?
As I begin to forget about that, and look to start thinking about lacrosse, I was surprisingly recognized by a local here in Kellerville. I think this is the first time I have officially been recognized out of Cassadaigua, and it was a little weird, but I was honored at the same time. He was a middle-aged man, who proclaims himself as one of Baker Park’s biggest lacrosse fans. I was impressed by his overall knowledge, and he told be a lot of facts about lacrosse in Baker Park that I might not have necessarily asked about, but was interested in learning. He told me he had been following most press releases from countries participating, but was fascinated by our country. The conversation was going well before he hit me with, “Why doesn’t Cassadaigua have any men on their team? I thought your nation was making progress, and your men’s team won a tournament right here before in soccer.” As an intern for a media outlet, I have no idea why that is the case, but I told him that we have selected the best lax players in the country, and it just so happened that they were all women. He did not really seem to buy that, and went on about how our nation isn’t really making the progress that we claim we are in regards to men’s rights. I had to explain to him that I don’t really get myself involved in all of that, and the conversation mellowed out afterwards. Thankfully.
Back to lacrosse, the final score of the Northwest Kalactin game was 12-5, and like the first game, we dictated the pace of the game throughout, jumping out to a 5-0 lead. Kalactin did close to 5-3 at one point, but never got any closer. Cassie Wheeler was our leading scorer in this game with four goals. Jessica Crockett added three, Alyssa Mosley had a pair, and single goals were scored by Katie Stewart, Samantha Poole, and Lauren Schmitt. Defender Kayla Newton left the game at halftime with an apparent leg injury, but am told that it was just a bruise, and she will return to the lineup against Abanhfleft.
