High school soccer goes to the teeth

Friday night lights mean football in most minds, but my high school highlights are the rivalry soccer games we played a few times a season in the football stadium, at night, under the lights.

What is it about a night game in high school that makes you feel like you're sneaking out and smoking your first cigarette? Suiting up and walking out from the locker room at dusk in team formation left me anxious, buzzed and nauseous all at the same time. It was electric.

We may not have required an ambulance parked behind the end zone, but let me tell you, girls' soccer is no picnic. My most graphic memory came during senior year. It is filed away in my memory under the title "Human Bite."

It was a crisp New England autumn night. Each blade of grass on the perfectly mowed pitch was wet with the dew that appears as night falls and temperatures drop. The field glistened in the glow of towering lights, and escalating silver bleacher benches were soon filled by hoodies, fleeces and scarves of fans clad in red and white or blue and orange.

I can remember how my feet felt in my cleats as the wetness soaked through to my socks. I remember the piercing October air filling my lungs during our warm-up wind sprints. Most of all, I remember No. 14 -- the opposing midfielder who I had been grinding hips and pulling jerseys against for four years. It all came to this.

The first half was back and forth. I think our teams traded a goal or two. I can't even be sure. All I remember was a grudge match with No. 14. This was the last time we would face off, so every ball between us was fought for to the teeth.

At some point in the second half, our goalkeeper punted out a high-arcing looper that descended on the two of us seemingly in slow motion. No. 14 was a good 3 inches taller than me; she was the big, sturdy type of midfielder. I was one of the little scrappy ones, so I knew I had to get a jump on her if I was to win this one. I leaped up out of my Copa Mundials, using every muscle I had in my 17-year-old body, thrusting my elbows back behind me, fists clenched as I stretched my forehead towards the ball.