Free Solo

21

Audrey's POV

"Alright." Vlatko says. "We have zero subs left so one of you has to go in goal for Alyssa."

We're playing Australia today in the quarterfinals, we've had to use all our subs, and it's only the 48th minute.

Lucky us.

Alex got taken off in the 12th minute with an ankle injury after Carpenter slide tackled her, but missed the ball. In the 25th minute Rose came off with a hamstring injury then in the 43rd minute Pinoe got a knee injury and had to come off. Christen came on for Alex, Sam came on for Rose, and I came on for Pinoe.

A minute ago Australia had a corner, chaos ensued, and Alyssa came away with a broken wrist.

"I'll do it." I say.

"You sure?" Christen asks.

"Yeah. I have my own gloves in my bag in the locker room."

"Go get them." Vlatko says.

I nod, run to the dressing room, grab my Mom's old gloves from my bag, then run back to the pitch.

"Here." Someone says and hands me Alyssa's jersey.

I take my jersey off, put Alyssa's green jersey on, then put on my keeper gloves.

"Be safe my child." Ash says then she hugs me.

"You know you can be a bit odd at times." I say then both of us laugh.

"I know." Ash says as Ali hands me Ash's towel. "But in all seriousness just trust your instincts and you'll do great."

I nod and grab a water bottle then I head to the goal. When I get to the goal I hang the towel up on the net then lay the water bottle outside of the net. Once I'm all set up I look down at my Mom's old gloves then I kiss the stitching on the cuffs that says SOLO before I turn around.

"Your ball." The ref says then she drops the ball and heads up field.

When the ref blows her whistle I send the ball upfield to resume the game.

A couple minutes later Abby deflects a cross out for a corner.

While everyone is setting up for the corner I keep getting pushed.

"Fuck off." I say and push Sam Kerr away from me.

"What the hell is your problem?"

"What do you mean what's my problem? You're pushing me into the fucking goal."

"That's enough." The ref says. "Both of you cut the shit."

The ref heads back to her position before she blows the whistle then Raso floats the ball into the box.

Instantly I realize I can catch the ball so I run out to the 6 yard box, jump up and catch the ball. Unfortunately one of the Australians decided not to jump so the moment I catch the ball I flip upside down then I crash to the ground.

"Son of a bitch." I mumble into the grass as I hear a whistle blow.

"You alright?" Becky asks as someone rests their hand on my back.

"I'm fine." I say then I roll over and come face to face with the 9 remaining outfield players.

"Why do you look confused?" Sam questions.

"What formation are we playing?"

"4-3-2." Becky says.

"Ah okay." I say.