Right from the start that afternoon, Merion was a different team.
Sure, it was partly the lineup change. But it was also the attitude.
Every Merion player—including Ron Arlow—seemed to have an extra bounce in his or her step; seemed to have an extra gear to get to loose balls; seemed to have an enthusiasm that no one watching them play had seen in their first four games.
It was as if they had invisible jet packs inside their uniforms.
The Malvern players were caught off guard. All they knew about Merion was that they were three-time losers and had gotten shut out the previous Friday by a Main Line team that Malvern had beaten 4–0 in their conference opener.
For the first time all season, Merion scored the first goal of the game. It came when Zack Roth took off on a run down the right side and fed the ball to Arlow, sprinting up the middle of the field.
Arlow was Merion’s fastest player, and he was behind the Malvern midfielders in an instant, fast enough to go by them, skilled enough to keep the ball on his foot as he did.
As the defenders tried to close on him, he faked as if to pass to Craig on the right and then dished to Andi, who was closing from the left side.
Andi one-timed the ball—not bothering to stop it with her foot but booting it as soon as it arrived. Malvern’s goalie never even moved because the ball was past him so quickly.
Five minutes in, Merion led.
Andi ran straight to Arlow, pointing her finger and saying, “Great pass, Ron! Great pass!”
“Amazing shot,” Arlow said, and, for the first time all season, the two of them exchanged a hand slap.
The goal seemed to get Malvern’s attention. The game settled into a two-way battle, both teams making runs into the offensive zone, both defenses coming up with answers.
Then, with a little more than a minute left in the first half, Jeff made a steal at midfield and, seeing Andi open on the left, got her the ball. Andi streaked into the penalty area and was about to pass the ball to Arlow when she was taken down—hard—by a Malvern defender.
The referee raced in waving a yellow card and pointing to the penalty spot. Several Merion players charged the Malvern defender, who had also tumbled to the ground.
“My bad,” he said, getting to his feet. “Honest.”
He put out his hand. Andi accepted it. Everyone in Merion blue-and-gold pulled up.
“Just watch what you’re doing,” Mike Craig said.
The Malvern defender nodded. “Just trying to stop her from scoring, guys,” he said. “Not easy, you know.”
Jeff saw Craig and Andi smile at the comment. The referee had picked the ball up and placed it on the penalty spot.
“Okay, Merion,” he said. “Who’s taking this?”
Everyone looked at one another. This was the first penalty kick they’d been awarded all season.
“Andi should take it,” Craig said. “She’s the one who got taken down.”
Andi shook her head. “Ron’s got the strongest leg,” she said. “Let him take it.”
The clock was under twenty seconds. If they didn’t get the kick off by the time it hit zero, they’d lose it.
From the sidelines, Coach J was yelling. “Someone take the kick! Arlow, you’re the captain, decide!”
“Andi, take it,” Arlow said.
The referee was lining up the players on both teams. The clock ticked under ten seconds. No time to argue anymore.
Andi lined up. The referee blew the whistle. Andi kicked the ball at the exact spot where the goalie had been standing. He had taken a dive to his left, anticipating her lefty kick going in that direction. The ball hit the net as the clock hit zero.
It was 2–0, and Andi had scored both goals.
They raced to the sideline—almost as one—for the halftime break. This, Jeff thought, is fun.
The second half wasn’t without nervous moments.
Malvern made some adjustments and became much more aggressive, taking chances by pushing extra players into the offensive zone. As a result, Merion had some chances with odd-man rushes but couldn’t convert.
Malvern finally broke through on a corner kick. The ball was kicked into the goal area, and a scramble for it ensued. Somehow it ended up on the foot of one of the Malvern players who was wide-open. He kicked it into an open corner of the net, and with ten minutes still left, the margin was 2–1.
“We’ve got to stay aggressive,” Coach J said as they were lining up for the kickoff. “Don’t let them back us up.”
He pointed at Jeff. “Michaels, you get a chance to move up, you take it.”
Andi and Jeff had played almost the entire game—rested, as was required by the rules, for five minutes apiece early in the second half.
Coach J’s strategy paid off. With Malvern pressing for the tying goal, Bobby Woodward made a save on a weak shot and quickly threw the ball up the sideline to Jeff, who took off, pushing up with the ball so he became—in essence—a fourth forward.
The Malvern midfielders scrambled to get back, but Jeff had enough speed to get past them and pass the ball to Craig, who moved to the middle of the field and was about to tee up a shot when Arlow screamed, “Mike—Andi!”
Craig looked up and saw her cutting in from the left side completely unchecked. The defense had crowded the middle of the goal area and had, for an instant, forgotten about her. Craig slid the ball to the left winger, and she blasted it as soon as it arrived on her foot. The goalie actually guessed right and got a hand on the ball, but he couldn’t stop it, and it deflected off his hand into the top of the goal.
All four Merion players who had been involved in the play had their arms in the air, and they raced into a group scrum while the rest of the team came up the field to join the celebration.
“Great pass!” Andi said, hugging Craig.
“Great eyes by Ron!” Craig replied.
Andi turned to Arlow, and they hugged—sort of—each throwing one arm around the other.
Jeff loved the entire thing—except maybe for the Andi-Craig hug. He understood it, but, being honest, he could have lived without it.
After all, he had started the play. Just then, Andi spotted him and gave him a hug, too. That was at least as cool as the goal.