1.3

                                    

                                          
man city control the opening minutes, and caitlin is left running around the pitch, trying to intercept the ball. kim intercepts a pass in the midfield, and instead of sending it immediately up the field like they have been the opening minutes, she passes it back to leah, signaling her to slow the game down. leah passes it to rafa, who passes it to steph. once steph looks up the field, caitlin starts making a run from midfield, it starts at a slow jog, but when she sees that steph is about to boot it upfield, caitlin sprints past the right back and gets the ball near the corner flag. sizing up the defender, she dribbles to the side a couple of times, before going for a nutmeg right on the baseline. the defender is beat and she knows it, so in order to prevent caitlin from driving into the box, morgan pulls on her shirt. caitlin sells the foul, and the whistle can be heard as she collapses to the ground. 
"a bit early for the flopping, don't you think?" a city player whispers under her breath as she runs past caitlin.
the audible groans of the fans can be heard, typically that type of foul would lead to a yellow card, but the referee seems to be lenient, letting morgan out with a warning. as caitlin strolls up towards the goalkeeper, she can hear leah yelling set peice instructions within the six. when beth whips the ball into the box, multiple heads jump for it, but it ends up in the safe hands of the keeper, who clears everybody out of the box.
after the first foul, the game progressively gets more physical. beth is in a constant battle with the city left back, ouahabi, and rarely can get her feet at the ball without some contact being dealt. the combination of steph and caitlin is clear cut and smooth, you can tell that the two friends have played long with each other, the chemistry is unmatched, and steph is picking apart every dribble chloe kelly is taking in their half. city are not letting arsenal run this game however, the challenges in midfield are brutal, quick, and devastating. caitlin soon realizes that pressing high at the moment will not change much, it definitely won't help her get the ball. she stays mostly in midfield, stringing passes together with viv, frida and steph. city are running around in circles trying to intercept the ball and caitlin does well to get rid of it. frida passes it to steph and caitlin quickly accelerates down the left flank. the ball lands comfortably within her strides and she has just entered the final third. she sees frida making a late run inside the box so she cuts it back to her. 
the ball doesn't make it to frida, but caitlin doesn't know that. kelly has tracked all the way back and makes a crunching tackle that is clearly late, and sends caitlin off balance, but no whistle has been blown. caitlin is strewn out on the grass, catching her breath. 
"you gotta call that ref!" viv yells as she starts jogging back to defend the city counter. caitlin is frustrated, to say the least. she runs back like a madwoman possessed, she has her eyes on the ball and urges stina to press higher. when the centerback passes it to morgan, caitlin is up in her face and successfully takes the ball away from her, passing it to kim. 
after a deflected shot from beth, the arsenal get a corner, and this time caitlin is standing outside the box, watching as steph sends the ball into the box. a game of pinball seems to occur in the box as the ball floats from head to head, the goalkeeper unable to make a convincing grab at it. a bad clearance lets the ball come out to caitlin, seeing that most of her teammates are in the box, she sends a lofted ball in. 
once again, she doesn't see the outcome of her cross. hemp sprints towards her and sends her planted foot flying into the air, and caitlin straight to the ground. if the crowd wasn't cheering for the goal that leah just scored, they would have heard the scream caitlin let out as the studs came into contact with her foot. if you asked about who heard that scream, the arsenal bench would have said they heard it, the players on the field? they were fully focused on the ball. the stands? only one person can recall the exact moment it happened.