2025-12-21, 10:16 PM - Word count:
"I just got the call! I'm going up next year!" my sister's voice sounded through the phone.
"That's amazing!" I replied happily. "You've been really proving yourself this season, it was only going to be a matter of time before you proved yourself and got that shot."
Even from half a world away, Caitlin's excitement was apparent. Her Quebec City Citadelles team was on the way back to the Four Star Cup finals on what was somehow both a dominant first-place performance and a Cinderella run at the same time, and now next year she'd be playing for the Calgary Dragons. With the closest major-league SSL side being in Los Angeles, it meant that we wouldn't get to meet up midseason like we had been doing the last two years, but not having that trip was a perfectly acceptable tradeoff to both of us accomplishing our professional sports dreams.
"What about you?" Caitlin asked. "You're second on your minors team in goals, you must be getting at least some discussion from the management there at Celtic."
I smiled. "Hopefully that call-up is close for me, but all I can really do is just play my best and hope that they see enough to pencil me in for the big club next year." We talked some more until I had to head to my team's training session - the time difference was certainly a factor when we tried to schedule these phone calls - where we would be practicing for our upcoming match against North Shore United. We'd already secured our spot in the top half of the Minors Division for next year, but we always wanted to play hard for every match, especially when playing at home.
---
At last the match day arrived and I was walking out onto the pitch with my teammates. North Shore always played us tough and had pulled off a close 4-3 win when we traveled to play them in the first half of the season, but this time we had the home field and would be looking to take advantage of it. Just over a minute into the match, we were already on the attack. I took the ball down the left touchline, but lost it to a defender. North Shore tried to get the ball out of their own end, but it was intercepted by Harvey Danger who got the ball up to Robbie Schuurmans. Seeing a set play developing, I had to time my jump just right to break for the net, and managed to pull it off as Schuurmans played a perfect through ball ahead for me. The goalie seemingly slipped just as the shot left my foot, leaving a wide-open net for the quick opening goal of the match. It hadn't gone unnoticed by me that every single goal I'd scored this season had curiously been the opening, match-tying, or match-winning goal, and my ninth goal of the season only continued that trend with another match-opening score.
In the fifteenth minute, we got a throw-in from the right side and the ball was passed back to Jay Cue Jr., who sent a high ball across the box. It was a beautiful pass, one placed where only I could get to it, and somehow I managed to get separation and turn around to head the ball back to Heung-Man Smalls in the goal box. He knocked the ball out of the air past a defender's outstretched leg and into the net, and only a third of the way through the first half we had a two-goal lead. I would get a few more nice setups throughout the game that unfortunately weren't converted, and an injury to Thomas Schwarte late in the match set the stage for a comeback from the visitors to ultimately result in a 2-2 draw, but I had had one of my better matches of the season and was continuing to strengthen my case for a potential callup.
"That's amazing!" I replied happily. "You've been really proving yourself this season, it was only going to be a matter of time before you proved yourself and got that shot."
Even from half a world away, Caitlin's excitement was apparent. Her Quebec City Citadelles team was on the way back to the Four Star Cup finals on what was somehow both a dominant first-place performance and a Cinderella run at the same time, and now next year she'd be playing for the Calgary Dragons. With the closest major-league SSL side being in Los Angeles, it meant that we wouldn't get to meet up midseason like we had been doing the last two years, but not having that trip was a perfectly acceptable tradeoff to both of us accomplishing our professional sports dreams.
"What about you?" Caitlin asked. "You're second on your minors team in goals, you must be getting at least some discussion from the management there at Celtic."
I smiled. "Hopefully that call-up is close for me, but all I can really do is just play my best and hope that they see enough to pencil me in for the big club next year." We talked some more until I had to head to my team's training session - the time difference was certainly a factor when we tried to schedule these phone calls - where we would be practicing for our upcoming match against North Shore United. We'd already secured our spot in the top half of the Minors Division for next year, but we always wanted to play hard for every match, especially when playing at home.
---
At last the match day arrived and I was walking out onto the pitch with my teammates. North Shore always played us tough and had pulled off a close 4-3 win when we traveled to play them in the first half of the season, but this time we had the home field and would be looking to take advantage of it. Just over a minute into the match, we were already on the attack. I took the ball down the left touchline, but lost it to a defender. North Shore tried to get the ball out of their own end, but it was intercepted by Harvey Danger who got the ball up to Robbie Schuurmans. Seeing a set play developing, I had to time my jump just right to break for the net, and managed to pull it off as Schuurmans played a perfect through ball ahead for me. The goalie seemingly slipped just as the shot left my foot, leaving a wide-open net for the quick opening goal of the match. It hadn't gone unnoticed by me that every single goal I'd scored this season had curiously been the opening, match-tying, or match-winning goal, and my ninth goal of the season only continued that trend with another match-opening score.
In the fifteenth minute, we got a throw-in from the right side and the ball was passed back to Jay Cue Jr., who sent a high ball across the box. It was a beautiful pass, one placed where only I could get to it, and somehow I managed to get separation and turn around to head the ball back to Heung-Man Smalls in the goal box. He knocked the ball out of the air past a defender's outstretched leg and into the net, and only a third of the way through the first half we had a two-goal lead. I would get a few more nice setups throughout the game that unfortunately weren't converted, and an injury to Thomas Schwarte late in the match set the stage for a comeback from the visitors to ultimately result in a 2-2 draw, but I had had one of my better matches of the season and was continuing to strengthen my case for a potential callup.
<center><img src='https://i.imgur.com/X6cSRMC.jpeg' border='0' alt='user posted image' /></center><br><center>Sig by Pandar</center>
![[Image: gmSTbwI.png]](https://i.imgur.com/gmSTbwI.png)
