The bus ride to Amherst, Massachusetts was entirely uneventful. 

In the front of the bus, Opal chatted quietly with Carli and Christen, who was glaring at Tobin and Allie. Those two sat a few rows behind the trio, both absorbed in their music, their hands intertwined sweetly. 

Ashlyn and Ali were holding hands as well and were talking amongst themselves. In the back of the bus, Hope read a book, Kelley flipped through a new edition of a magazine and Alex stared out the window. 

After three slightly stressed hours on a bus with already sweaty girls, the women were thankful to pile off the bus and head over to the soccer field. 

UMass had already set up on one side, and were deep into their warmups. Number five, the team's key player, was glaring at them from the other side as NYU set down their athletic bags and water bottles. 

The girls loaded onto the field, stretching and chatting anxiously amongst themselves.

A few minutes later, Opal called the team together and started talking. "Okay. UMass is good. They're really good. But... we're better. And we will win, even if it means dying in the process." 

Tobin looked at the girl carefully, but saw no hint she was joking. Yee. 

Coach Jackson took over shoving the captain out of the way. "Yeah, like Opal said. We gonna win or what? You gals gotta get out there and slap some New England butt!" 

The girls exchanged looks, partially , okay, very disturbed by the older woman's choice of words, but they let it go. 

The starting line up was very similar to the game against UCONN: Hope was between the posts with Ali, two seniors and a junior names Anita as her back line. In midfield was Tobin, Allie Carli, and surprisingly enough, Christen. Opal and Alex were the forwards. 

As captain, it was Opal's job to make sure that all the girls on the team were socially healthy, in other words, didn't want to rip each other's throats out for fear they might drag it onto the pitch and it would influence their play. 

Not wanting to become involved off the field, Opal had let the Christen - Allie -Tobin drama be, hoping they would figure it out themselves. But by the way Christen and Allie were having a glare-war from their separate sides of the field, Opal knew her plan hadn't worked. She could only pray that as the ref blew the whistle, NYU would come out on top. 

Unlike the UCONN game, NYU dominated the ball for most of the game. Their passes were direct and on point, and their first touches were clean and precise. They were winning most of the tackles and free balls, but none of their shots on goal seemed to go in. 

Around the fifteen minute of the game, Anita, the back line junior, sent in a excellent ball up to Christen in midfield. The sophomore took the ball and flew with it down the sideline, beating two defenders and finding herself in an open patch of green. Looking up, she saw both Alex and Carli in the goal box, Opal and Tobin streaking behind them. She crossed the ball and breathed a smile as the sound of Alex's head knocking it into the opposing goal echoed throughout the tiny stadium. 

The forward ran and jumped into Christen's arms, hugging her tightly. 

"Great cross!" she shouted as their fellow teammates jumped on top of them. 

"Thanks! Great header!" 

The teams reset in their starting positions, UMass with slightly disappointed faces but NYU with happy but determined ones. 

The ref blew the whistle, signaling halftime and both teams trotted over to the sidelines, prepared for their halftime lecture. Once everyone was seated on the bench, Coach Jackson stood up to address them. 

"Okay Ladies. That first half wasn't bad. In fact, we're playing pretty well. But your shots. Your shots! Make them, I don't know, go in the goal! Good goal, Alex. Defenders! Those few saves that Hope had too make shouldn't of gone through you guys. Yes, they were beautiful and once again she saved our butts, but you guys need to communicate more! And work together." 

Tired yet energized, the girls made their way back onto the pitch. The line up was the same, except that Christen had been moved back into her usual forward spot, creating a diamond if you will with three mids and three forwards. 

Right as the big clock on the end of the field it seventy three minutes, number five from UMass broke through the midfielders, sprinting down the sideline with the ball. She beat Anita and ran past Ali and then was one on  one with Hope.

Hope could feel herself go pale. This was it. Win or go home. Even a tie would kick NYU out of the championship match. Number five shot the ball, and it was so perfect. It cut through the air, bringing that amazing whish sound every soccer player loves to hear, soaring to the left hand corner of the net. Hope jumped, praying she might get a finger on it and she did. Knocking the ball slightly to the left of the post, Hope could hear the New Yorkian side line exploding as she came down on the ground hard. She must've been four, five feet above the ground when she landed. 

Hope knew something wasn't right. Her knee. Her knee, her motherf****** knee. In the seconds it took for the team to realize something was wrong, Hope's knee had swelled to the point where it looked like it was stuffed with golf balls and it was throbbing painfully against the cool November grass. 

"Hope?" Alex asked, crouching beside the keeper. "Hope, are you okay?" The goalie didn't respond, instead letting out a little moan which Alex took for a no, I'm not okay. As more members of the squad accumulated around their fallen teammate, Alex rubbed her shoulder comfortingly. "You're gonna be okay, Hope. You're gonna be great." 

"GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Coach Jackson shouted as she and the rest of the coaching staff flooded onto the field. Once she had pushed enough players out of the way to get a good look at the keeper, Coach Jackson turned pale. "Call an ambulance." 

The team exchange confused looks. Yes, Hope was hurt, but they still didn't see what was wrong until- "HOLY MOTHERF****** SHIT!" 

"What?" 

"Opal, what is it?"

"I DON'T SEE IT, OPAL, WHAT?" voices cried, desperate to know the cause of the whimpers the star goalkeeper was letting out.

"LOOK AT HER KNEE!" 

Heads turned towards their keeper's knee and Ashlyn, along with many others let out startled gasps and little "YOW" noises. Hope Solo's knee was bent the wrong way. That was not good at all. 

Leaving the staff to take care of it, the gals and the UMass gals headed to their sidelines while sending quick glances over at their fallen friend. 

Upon hearing the sirens approaching, Alex felt her heart skip a beat. She was so scared. What if Hope could never play again?

The ambulance parked alongside the field as ETs stormed over with a stretcher. Ashlyn geared up to go into goal as Hope disappeared along with the hospital people. 

"Girls, even though Hope is injured, we still need to win this game. We'll think about her later. She'll be fine," Opal said, smiling weakly at the girls. 

The nodded in agreement, their faces now solemn and their eyes downcast. The team headed back onto the pitch and the game resumed. Alex tried to follow her captain's advice, focusing on the game, thinking about winning it for her roommate. But... even then, she couldn't help but notice a certain midfielder that sent longing looks over at her own goal every few minutes...

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a/n: uh oh...