Lacrosse

9- She is the Key

Michael Corbin

Why Kendall?

That was the only question asked by my teammates and the girls team when I brought up my plan to help secure a victory for Pittsburgh Hills. Lincoln Central has beaten us the last two years for the state title, going on to win the national championship. Not this year. We will be victorious and we will stop at nothing to ensure that we are.

My answer to their question was not clear at first. Sure, the girls teams have a rivalry with each other, but it's nothing compared to the boys. The girls usually just call each other sluts while playing or yank their ponytails while running, but us boys go full out. Fighting, cursing, stealing, destroying, and anything else that you can think of goes down if it means helping us win.

And going after Kendall would help our girls and boys.

Kendall is the key. If we break her, we break the foundation of the girls offense. She has been the top scorer for the past two years, even when she was just a freshmen. She usually scores around four goals a game, sometimes more, sometimes less. If we take away those goals, the Lincoln Central girls will be toast. If those few goals aren't enough to break the offense, Kendall is also the leader. She is the player that calls the plays, sets things up, and visualizes the best move to make next. Even when she is not scoring, she is scoring.

Without Kendall playing, the girls have nothing.

How will all of this help the boys? They asked next.

Kendall. Is. The. Key.

Breaking her means that we'll break Josh too, because his one soft spot is her. Off the field or on the field, he will never let anything hurt her. If she's hurt, he's hurt. If he's hurt, the Lincoln Central boys are hurt. They'll lose their top scorer and best midfielder. Josh is the fastest, toughest, swiftest guy on the field, including the players from my team. Without him, their defense is weaker as well as their offense.

Kendall. Is. The. Key.

We must make her panic.

She must lose her mind.

She must lose her comfort.

She must break.

She will break.

And I will make sure of that.

Nothing is off limits.

Nothing is too dangerous.

Too immoral.

Too stupid.

Too cruel.

There are no rules when it comes to playing the game off the field.