What The Heart Wants

Hearts United (Part III)

Erica: When we first started building this roster, I had no idea that the level of players we would have at this point of the process would be so high. I didn't expect to see multiple Olympic medalists land here, nor a World Cup champion, nor top-of-the-line players from each of the  three North American national teams' programs. I definitely was not planning to have the starting central midfield tandem for our first season be a pair who have made a combined 291 appearances for their national teams, nor that we'd have the MVP and starting goalkeeper from last year's NCAA national champions. You dream of taking the field for the first time and walking off with a win. That won't be a dream, it will be reality. Do I predict we'll make the playoffs? I honestly don't want to jump to that conclusion given that only two teams from each conference will qualify.

Wendy walked over and cut Erica off. "I wouldn't be so sure that we won't make the playoffs. I have a surprise announcement for our guests and for the team. This afternoon, following the confirmation of all transactions done during the free-for-all period at the start of this week, NWSL Commissioner Amanda Duffy informed both myself and Bev Priestman, general manager of the Vancouver Legacy, that the NWSL playoffs would expand by one team for the 2018 season. How it will work is that the top two teams in each conference will qualify and be seeded E1, E2, W1, and W2. The third-place team which accumulates the most points over the 20-game schedule will enter as a wild card and will face the lower-ranked of the two second-place teams. The semifinals are set up so that E1 plays W2 and W1 plays E2."

The crowd's reaction to the announcement was a combination of slightly stunned and moderately encouraged.

Erica: I guess the boss just heaped higher expectations on me. I reckon we're now sort of expected to contend for that wild-card spot if not take it. With the squad we currently have, and the future additions from the college draft, tryouts, and discovery selections, there is no reason to believe we can't finish third in the East and out-point the Western Conference's third-place team. Next, I'd like to bring up our captain, a woman I have known for several years both through my time on the US National Team's coaching staff as well as my years in State College, as she and other alums would come back to campus for events during the fall. Sidenote: We will be at the NCAA second and third-round games at Penn State tomorrow and Sunday, with the team being introduced at halftime of tomorrow night's Penn State-Georgetown game. The fact that she landed in our lap to be chosen at the top of the Expansion Draft, well, we couldn't turn down the opportunity to bring her back to Pennsylvania. Ladies and gentlemen, Ali Krieger.

As Ali walked up to take the microphone from Erica, Steph McCaffrey noticed that Greg Orlandini was getting poised to pay VERY close attention to her remarks, hoping to glean something that he could use to trot out a story concerning the possible love triangle that he believes is at the center of Alex Morgan's separation. Steph asked Kristie for a pad and pen and jotted two quick notes, one for Julie and one for Wendy. She then asked Lindsey if she could discretely get them to the necessary parties.

After changing back into her formal attire, Steph Labbe went to stand near the back of the room, preparing to watch Ali's speech from a place where she could be unobtrusive but also provide eye-to-eye support for her. Julie brought Sarah, Brian, and Connor back to where Steph was and told her what McCaffrey had written to them. The four of them spread out around the goalkeeper, with the children on either side of her and their parents outside of them. When Ali had reached the front of the stage, she looked around the room and noticed Orlandini standing to her right, about midway back. She continued to scan and eventually caught eyes with Steph at the back of the room, then saw the O'Haras with her and immediately focused on them, ignoring everything in front of her.

Ali: Hello, Philly! Are we having a good time tonight?! After a season that could best be said ended in disappointment, not only in how we went out of the playoffs but also in how I played in that semifinal match, I was ready to look at the possibility that the game had come to pass me by, that Father Time had arrived to pull me away from the field and move me onto the next chapter of life. At an informal gathering in Las Vegas to celebrate Steph Labbe's birthday, three players who are now teammates of mine with the Hearts in a way talked me out of retiring and instead gave me some encouragement that a positional change might negate my losing battle to time and still could utilize my defensive strengths. I'm sure Carm socked away the conversation the four of us had and brought up the concept to Erica when she returned to Philadelphia. Once the Pride left me unprotected, I came up to Philly to spend a few days with Carm and look around at how things were coming together for her and the rest of the staff. We talked a bit and after Christine Sinclair was designated by Vancouver as their first choice, Carm asked me if I'd consider being part of the Hearts, telling me that she and Erica had discussed moving me to defensive midfield in the same way that Julie Johnston was being deployed by the Red Stars and the US National Team. I had played the position some at Penn State and also in my last year in Washington in front of Steph Labbe. I guess I'm telling you all of this to say that I am proud to be the first captain of this team and we will make the city of Philadelphia proud of us through our play, our engagement in the community, and in standing up to those around us who want to deny us our humanity because it doesn't fit their view of society. That brings us to the final part of our program, and I ask that our team's version of the Honeymooners do the honors. Kristie Mewis and Steph McCaffrey.