What The Heart Wants

Don't Stop Believing

Following their talk, Ashlyn ran some errands while Ali called the Hearts' office to get some information from Wendy about the games tonight and tomorrow, specifically wondering what the club might have in mind to acquire any of the players she would be watching. She told the captain that Carm's been wanting to draft Quinn since she was hired as Erica's assistant and thought that Proctor would be a helpful addition for the future, both because her and Becca would have history together coming in and because Steph would literally be a part-time starter in 2019 and 2020 due to the World Cup and Olympics. She also mentioned that their new goalkeeper coach, Kristin Luckenbill, was high on EJ. As for the UCF and USF players, the club's interest was general, but Wendy thought getting Ali some experience in player evaluation on friendly turf was a good idea before the College Cup. Ali thanked her for the information and did some Internet searching on Duke and Virginia's teams for background on some of the players of note.

Ali and Ashlyn ordered dinner and settled in for the match-up between the Blue Devils and Cavaliers. Ashlyn, of course, wished both teams would score buckets of goals on the goalkeepers, but Ali was a LOT more diplomatic about her rooting interest in the match. The first half turned out to be pretty much a dud, as neither team took much initiative to play attacking soccer. Coming out of the locker room, Virginia decided to change the tenor of the game by being a bit more enterprising with the ball. A re-directed corner kick nearly evaded Proctor, but a quick shift in direction allowed her to get to it before it passed the goal line. Both teams made numerous substitutions in the final 25 minutes, hoping that a combination of fresh legs and a lack of cohesiveness from the opponent's defense would lead to a winning goal. Following a cross plucked out of the air by Proctor, the Blue Devils quickly moved the ball out of the back, with a roll-out from the goalkeeper to Schuyler DeBree, who passed it back to Proctor and the ball was moved to the other side of defense to Mary Love Taylor. Taylor saw Quinn open about 10 yards ahead of the D in their end and played the ball to her. Once received and settled, Quinn noticed Virginia's back line attempting to get Imani Dorsey offside. The Duke forward circled back so as to stay on her side of midfield and blistered the Virginia sweeper just after Quinn played a lobbing ball over her. With nothing but green space and the goalkeeper in front of her, Dorsey drove directly for goal and then chipped it over the on-charging netminder, giving the Blue Devils a 1-0 lead that would stand up as the final score.

At the final whistle, the entire team dogpiled on Proctor as her shutout gave Duke the ACC regular season championship and extended their winning streak to 17 games. Once she was allowed to get up off the ground, Proctor looked for Quinn and, once reunited, the two of them held one another for several seconds. After releasing from each other, they went to shake hands with their opponents before heading back to the bench area. The Duke coaches said a few words and then the players walked over to one of the goalmouths to pose for pictures with their ACC championship banner. EJ took the ball and sat down in the center of the front row. When the photographer was to snap the picture, Becca peeked around and planted a peck on her girlfriend's temple, causing a re-take. The two stayed behind while the rest of the team headed into the locker room. They spent a few quiet moments together before going in themselves, hand-in-hand.

***

Friday night in Allston, MA had the Mewis quartet at home watching Live PD. Kristie and Steph were cheering on the police officers while Sam shook her head at the stupidity of the perps and Abby asked herself again what she had signed up for with these three. During a commercial, the soft-hearted defender brought up Sunday's game and the BS surrounding it.

Abby: I can't believe our own fans turned on us. Makes me nervous about playing for the Courage next season.

Kristie: Hopefully this will blow over during the off-season and you and Sam won't be harassed when you start preseason.

Sam (to Kristie): Did you and Steph get any of that when you went public?

Kristie: We did the official "coming out" during the off-season, so it was more a "this is who I'm with" since we weren't playing for the same team. The ONE game I played with her in Chicago, the fans were REALLY great about us being a couple.

Steph: I think we showed fans by way of our dealing with the long distance and then having that one chance to suit up together that we were serious about one another AND about our soccer. I had a lot of fans seek me out after home games to say how proud they were of my not shying away from acknowledging Kristie as my girlfriend.

Sam: We shouldn't see any of that noise when we play Canada. The Bay Area is VERY liberal and open to gays, and Vancouver is pretty similar in its reception towards the LGBT community. The Canadian WNT has at least a couple of players that are out and others that are suspected as such.

Kristie: That's a good thing. Again, hopefully the off-season will kill any venom your fans have toward the two of you and you'll be able to get on with playing and living your lives together as you wish.

Abby (to Kristie and Steph): What's the word on your future? I know Houston and Chicago chose not to protect you. Afraid you'll get picked by one of the expansion teams?

Kristie: Actually, I'm not afraid at all. If Philly picks me, they seem open to finding a way to get Steph as well. As for Vancouver, I haven't heard from anyone associated with the club.

Sam: How can you have a good feeling about moving again?

Kristie: I sort of have some inside knowledge about their thinking and I laid out my case to a couple of their people when Steph and I were in Vegas during Championship Week.

Abby: Really?!

Steph: You mean Ali and Carm, hun?

Kristie: Yes. Now that Ali has been "selected" by the Hearts with their first pick, she's officially a member of the organization. When we talked on Decision Monday, I asked her to put in a good word for me if she had a chance, since I felt like her BFF Carm would be REALLY persuasive with their head coach and GM about getting her.

Sam: So they take you as the lynch pin to running their offense. Every team you've spent time with in the league has tried to turn up into either an A-mid or a left back instead of your natural left wing spot.

Kristie: I told them I was looking for a place where I wasn't expected to be a 10 or the ultimate playmaker, so if they're good with me on the flank, they'll take me. Anyways, we should think about turning in, Steph. I have a few things to tell you that I don't want their innocent ears to hear.

Sam: Kratch, you don't need to protect me from what you want to do to your girl, because it's probably no different than what I want to do to Abby.

Steph: I did NOT just hear that.

Sam turned out the living room lights and headed to her and Abby's room, while Kristie and Steph went to theirs.