Breaking the Mold (Alex Morgan x OC)

Anyway, John thinks that...

I rubbed my eyes as I walked into the dining hall in the hotel we're staying in, and everyone was talking hushed tones, which made me think that something went down. I grabbed a banana, some toast and some orange juice, and made my way to the table where Madison and a few girls were sitting.

"Sky Blue is out of the playoffs." Sarah said while I sat down next to her, and took a sip of my orange juice, savoring the taste of the sweet pulp.

"Check this out," Kayla chimed in, "There's a shit ton of tweets about O'Hara reportedly walking out after warmups. I wonder what went down there." I nearly spat out my orange juice, and Madison just looked at Kayla.

"Seriously?" I asked, and Kayla nodded, "She left the stadium and according to the tweet, she won't be with the team anymore."

"That's crazy," I said, and Madison shook her head in disbelief.

"Kelley wouldn't do something like that," Olivia interjected, "That ain't her style. I bet something went down between her and the front office or something."

I shrugged, "Well, whatever it is, I'm sure she'll be okay.."

The girls nodded, and I finished up my breakfast and we all got ready to go to Providence Park. We were playing the Thorns today, and the stakes were high. We had to win this one to advance in the playoffs and face Seattle in the finals. We all got on the bus, and I could feel the tension in the air. Everyone was ready to go out there and win, and prove to the world that we had what it took to be champions. When we arrived at the stadium, the crowd was already lining up outside, and we all got out of the bus and walked into the stadium. The energy was palpable, and I could feel the excitement in the air.

The weather was a bit muggy today, and I could feel the sweat forming on my forehead as we walked into the locker room to get ready for the game. We all sat down, and John had a whiteboard marker in his hand. "Okay, today we're gonna play in a 4-3-3 formation," He quickly drew a small field on the whiteboard and placed dots on it, "Defenders will be placed here, our midfielders here and our three forwards here," He pointed to each dots as he said it, "We want to keep the ball on the ground, keep it simple and move it around quickly."

Everyone nodded, and I could feel the determination in the air. We knew what we had to do, and we were ready to go out there and show the Thorns what we had. After getting changed, and going out to the field for warmups, we all gathered back in the locker room for one last motivational speech from John.

"Alright ladies, you know what to do out there. Move the ball around, keep your heads up and don't forget to play hard. Don't worry about the horse being blind, just load the wagon. Let's go!"

*******

"Come on team! Move it up!" Madison yelled as one of our midfielders, Jennifer, gained possession of the ball. I was sitting on the bench next to Kayla and Sarah, watching the match unfold while cheering on our teammates.

Jennifer sent the ball to Olivia who sent it up to Dakota, our forward. Dakota dribbled the ball towards the box, and sent a cross that found its way to Lisa. Lisa took a shot, and the ball sailed past the keeper and into the net! The whole crowd erupted in boo's as Lisa celebrated with our teammates. We were up 1-0 and had a good chance of winning this match. John was grinning ear to ear as he clapped,"Keep it up! We can do this!" The match continued, and the Thorns were pressing hard, which resulted in Tobin sending a beautiful cross to Sinclair, which she easily put away in the back of the net.

The crowd cheered, and I could feel the air of disappointment in our team, but it wasn't over yet. It was only 25 minutes into the first half, so we still have some time to get back in the lead. Rest of the first half went by fast, since it was a back and forth affair. 2 minutes were added into stoppage time and Portland scored a goal again making 2-1. In the locker room, quite a few of us were disappointed but John wasn't. He reminded us that we've still got 45 minutes to win this.