Norah's Spring '24 soccer season

Norah joined the Texas Lonestars soccer team during the winter and played the spring season with the team.  The team had too many girls for one 7v7 team, and not enough for two.  Fortunately, they were able to form both a 7v7 and 4v4 team.  Norah was on the roster for the 7v7 team, but the already short-staffed 4v4 team experienced a couple of injuries (outside soccer), and so Norah played all the 7v7 games and most of the 4v4 games.  We really enjoyed the 4v4 games because there was so much ball-time for every player!

The 4v4 team made the playoffs.  On a cloudy Saturday morning, we arrived for their first playoff game.  Many of Norah's teammates had been at a school lock-in the night before, and weren't really awake.  By halftime, the other team was up 3-0 and I don't think Lonestars even had one shot of goal!  At least we wouldn't have to come back for a Sunday game...

With some encouragement from Coach Christine, the girls came out to play the second half with some more energy.  They (and their goalpost ;-)) played solid defense, and midway through the third quarter broke through for their first goal on one of their first shots.  Early in fourth quarter, Norah took the ball near midfield and booted in a long range goal to narrow the game to 3-2.  Now things were getting interesting!  A penalty 10 yards from their opponents goal gave the Lonestars a chance to even the score.  Norah took the indirect kick and a teammate was able to punch the ball in - tie game!  With momentum on their side, the Lonestars were able to score again...4-3 Lonestars with about a minute left.  The opponent mounted a furious attack for the end of the game, but the girls were able to fend them off.  

After that dramatic comeback, their girls were pumped for the championship game the next day.  I don't recall the exact sequence of the scoring, but for most of the game the Lonestars either had a one goal lead or the game was tied.  Norah scored the first and third goals, while having an assist on second - all while playing only about half the game.  

For the playoffs, the Lonestars scored 7 goals with Norah scoring 3 and assisting on 2 more - it was a great stretch of soccer for Norah!