Crazier // USWNT (Spinnoff)

Chapter 5

September 18th, 2022 - Game Day

I didn't start tonight, so I just sat on the bench and gave water to Ashley during the hydration break. 

"Thanks." She said after taking a drink. 

"You're doing really great." I said, referring to her goal and assist that she had already to give us the 2-0 lead over Nigeria. Morgana had the other goal and Mallory had the other assist. 

"Thanks girl." She gave me the water bottle back. Then she turned to Mallory and talked to her about overlapping runs, and I tried to pay attention, but I was too busy staring at her by accident. 

"Get rid of those googly eyes for Ashley." Sophia laughed, putting down a few water bottles and going to sit on the bench. 

"What googly eyes?" I asked, sitting next to her. 

"I know you've got them. I'm no idiot." 

"Soph, I do not." 

"I know you do." She said as she poked my shoulder

"I do not." I poked hers back. 

"Yes you do." She poked me. 

"I do not." I poked her. 

It went on like that for about 30 more seconds before I gave in. 

"Fine. Maybe I do have 'googly eyes' for Ashley Sanchez. But that doesn't mean anything." I whispered. 

"I knew it." Sophia smirked, and looked to the game. 

"You better not tell anybody." 

"I'm not gonna." 

"Good." 

By the time it was halftime, we were up 3-0 off another goal by Morgana. 

Vlatko sat her and put in Soph, and then he rested Lindsey and put me in because her knee was bothering her. 

"Here comes the kid!" Said Kelley happily. 

"I'm not that little." 

"Mhm. 5 foot 3 and the youngest on the roster. Definitely not the kid." 

"Hey, she's taler than Crystal." Mallory said. 

"By just a little bit!" Crystal Dunn said. It was her first call up since she had her son. 

We did the team cheer after that, and I stood at the midfield waiting for them to send the halftime subs on. 

I took a deep breath, and ran into the game when the ref gave me the okay. 

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TV Broadcast

"And we're back, just seconds away from the second half of the USWNT vs Nigeria." Said the commentator Sebastian Salazar. 

"And it looks like we have 2 halftime changes. Looks like Morgana LaRue has come off and Sophia Smith has gone on. And for the second sub it looks like for her first international appearance Jade Calloway has been put in and Lindsey Horan has been taken out." Said the other commentator Julie Foudy. 

"Jade Calloway is the youngest player on this roster at 18 years, 7 months and 2 weeks old." 

"Last girl that young on this roster was Mal Pugh about 2 years ago." 

"And we're off. The second half is underway." Sebastian said. "And here's Calloway's first touch on the ball." 

"If you've ever seen her play, you know she won't play like the youngest player on this roster." Julie said. 

"She's got 11 and 8 assists this year for Houston Dash, leading the league in assists." 

"And 11 goals as a midfielder is hard to do. Much credit to her." 

"Now it's just time to see how she performs at the international level." Sebastian said. 

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Back to Jade's POV

I took 2 good shots on goal that were saved, a few good passes that made some things happen, but no goal or assist yet. I was also playing defensive mid, which I wasn't really used to, but I figured it out quickly enough. 

Then Ashley got fouled about 10 yards outside the box, so we got a free kick. 

Mallory stood over the ball, and I got into position to crash the net. 

She put her hand up, took her signature 4 steps back and one to the side, then she kicked the ball right to the middle of the group, but it was coming at me. 

I went up for the header, and I felt the ball hit my head, but then another head came crashing into my forehead. 

I fell, and everything went black for a few seconds. The stands felt silent, the yelling of the coaches and players stopped immediately. 

When I came back, I wasn't dizzy or anything, but had a little headache. I sat up and touched my head, and my hand was completely covered in blood. 

Ashley and Mal came running over to me before anyone else. 

"Oh my god your head." Ashley said. 

I took my bloody hand and clawed it up and teased Ashley by waving it as the trainers came out to the field. 

"Damn kid. You took a nice hit." Said one of the trainers. 

"Yeah. It doesn't hurt that bad though." I said. 

"Well I d have to touch it." 

"Fine." 

He started wiping at my head gently, getting the blood off it. 

"It's a lot smaller of a cut than I thought." He said, opening a band aid and putting it on my head. 

"Good." I stood up. 

"Be careful. You lost a decent amount of blood there." 

"I'm fine." I said. 

"Well you have to come off so we can get that blood off your hands and get you a new jersey quickly." 

"So I guess that header didn't go in, no?" I laughed. 

"No it didn't." He replied.

I squirted water on my hand that was covered in blood, and then I quickly switched my jersey so I could go back in. 

The refs waved me in, and I ran back out onto the field. The whole crowd went crazy, and my teammates clapped and I high-fived Emily Fox, the left back, ad I ran out. 

In the next 5 minutes, Alex Morgan was replaced by Ash Hatch, and Mallory was replaced by Trinity. 

Then everything started happening so fast. Trinity had the ball, crossed it to Sophia, and I overlapped Soph for some weird reason. It just felt right. She gave me the ball, I dribbled through 3 defenders, and then I took a shot to the top right corner. 

The stands went crazy again, and I ran up the left side of the field. Ashley ran to me s fast, and she hugged me, lifting my feet off the ground, which made me laugh. I looked down into her eyes, and I did get lost there for a second. Then the whole team came to celebrate my first goal, and I snapped back to reality. 

What's that one some from the Hannah Montana soundtrack that Taylor Swift sings? You lift my feet off the ground, spin me around, you make me crazier, crazier. I feel like I'm falling and I'm lost in your eyes, you make me crazier, crazier. 

Well that reminds me of Ashley. She makes me crazier.