Saving the Team by Alex Morgan

invited me, at the dance on Friday. He said I should come watch him play sometime. Anyone else want to come?” She gave me a sly smile. “I bet Steven will be there.”
    â€œEw, after what his teammates said to us at the dance?” Emma said. “No way am I gonna watch those jerks practice! Zoe and I are going shopping. Devin?”
    I didn’t feel like shopping, and I certainly didn’t want to see the boys’ soccer team either. Not after what they’d done. “It’s okay. You guys go.”
    I knew what I had to do. It was way more important than shopping or helping Jessi drool over her crush. I had to get the Kangaroos together as a team. I couldn’t talk to Mirabelle like I had planned, but it was time to let Coach Flores know exactly what I was thinking.
    After the rest of the team left, I marched over to Coach Flores’s office. She was sitting there, tilted way back in her chair, looking at her computer screen.
    I knocked loudly on her door. “Can I come in?”
    â€œDevin,” Coach said, easing out of her seat. “How are you doing?” She motioned me in while opening a folding chair for me to sit on.
    Coach reached into a drawer and pulled out a half-empty package of Girl Scout cookies. She removed thecookie tray from the box and offered me some with her usual smile. “I know this is hard,” she said, “having a teammate leave in the middle of the season like this.”
    I nodded but didn’t say anything. It was harder to speak my mind to Coach than I’d thought it would be. I’d rather face an angry Mirabelle. At least I didn’t have to worry about hurting her feelings!
    â€œWhat’s bothering you, Devin?” she asked.
    â€œMirabelle always complained to me about how bad we were, and how we kept losing.” I felt the words rush out of me. “Do you care that we’re losers?”
    â€œYou girls are not losers. Don’t say that. You’re still in middle school. Sports should be for fun. Isn’t that what I always say?”
    â€œI’m not having fun,” I said. “I don’t think anybody is.”
    â€œIs that true?” Coach said. She looked surprised, and genuinely concerned.
    I nodded. “Our team isn’t very . . . ” I searched around for the right word. “Cohesive. My friend back home, Kara, she’s co-captain of her soccer team, and she said they do a lot of team-bonding stuff. After school, and even on the weekends. Why don’t we do any of that?” I asked her.
    â€œI didn’t know you girls wanted to do that kind of thing. I just never want to take up all your time with soccer. I know you girls have lives outside of school. Trust me, I’ve been there before,” Coach said wistfully.
    â€œYou played soccer, right?” I asked. “Mirabelle told me that.”
    â€œI did play once,” she said, reaching into her desk and pulling out a framed newspaper article.
    The article was titled THESE GIRLS CAN KICK: KENTVILLE KANGAROOS STATE CHAMPS TWO YEARS IN A ROW and featured a large photo of a team of smiling girls, wearing the blue-and-white Kentville uniform. Some of the girls were holding their pointer fingers up in the air in the Number one sign. Two girls in the front row held a large golden trophy between them, with 1992 STATE CHAMPIONS emblazoned across the front.
    â€œDid you go to Kentville?” I asked.
    â€œYes.” She nodded. “That’s me.” She pointed to one of the girls holding the trophy. I barely recognized her. She looked so young!
    I quickly scanned the top of the article. Maria Luisa Flores leads the Kentville Kangaroos to their second state win. The Kicks, as they are known to their fans for the arsenal of kicks they use against their opponents on the field, didn’t disappoint. Just a little more than five minutes into the game, co-captain midfielder Flores landed a pass of