TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Cover

  Title Page

  CHAPTER 1

  THE DEFENSE HOLDS

  CHAPTER 2

  LEFT SIDE REVELATION

  CHAPTER 3

  A NEW VIEW

  CHAPTER 4

  A CHANCE AT MIDFIELD

  CHAPTER 5

  BACK TO DEFENSE

  CHAPTER 6

  FALLING BEHIND

  CHAPTER 7

  STEPPING UP

  CHAPTER 8

  PLAYOFFS OR OUT?

  Author Bio

  Illustrator Bio

  Glossary

  Discussion Questions

  Writing Prompts

  More About Lacrosse Fields

  Copyright

  Back Cover

  CHAPTER 1

  THE DEFENSE HOLDS

  Jaylin Buckley waited on the balls of his feet. As the Tigers’ central defenseman, he had learned to watch his opponent’s stick, not his eyes.

  The Scorpions’ attackman in front of him faked left, but Jaylin wasn’t buying it. The guy’s stick, a shorter version of Jaylin’s long defensive stick, had stayed on his right shoulder. Clearly, he was not going left.

  Suddenly, the attackman broke right and sprinted toward the Tigers’ goal. If he got the ball in the net, he would tie the score at six. Jaylin moved quickly, matching his opponent step for step. As the attackman brought his stick back to shoot, Jaylin brought his up for a check. He lifted the guy’s hands just enough to thwart the shot.

  Seeing he had no shot, the attackman kept the ball and ran around behind the goal. DeAndre, Jaylin’s best friend and fellow defenseman, followed him. Jaylin sprinted back to the center of the attack area, in front of the goalie, where an open attackman was calling for the ball.

  The Scorpions passed the ball back up the attack area to Jaylin’s right. He kept one eye on the Scorpion with the ball, and the other on the pesky attackman by the crease.

  “30 seconds!” yelled Coach from the sidelines. If the Tigers could hold the Scorpions off for a half minute, they would keep their grip on first place in the league standings.

  Suddenly, the guy with the ball faked out the defender in front of him and broke for the goal. As the ball carrier neared the crease, he faked a shot and zipped it to the attackman calling for the ball in the middle.

  But Jaylin had seen it coming. A step behind the middle attackman, he lunged forward and got his stick on the ball just before it reached his opponent. The ball bounced right to Mateo, the Tiger’s goalie, who scooped it up and let out a triumphant WOOP!

  “Matty, we can still score!” Jaylin yelled at Mateo. With his head turned toward the goalie, Jaylin sprinted out of the attack area toward midfield. Mateo turned toward him and prepared to throw a long pass.

  “No!” yelled Coach. “Find Dee! Find Dee!” Mateo turned and passed to DeAndre, who ran sideways until time ran out.

  Tweet! Tweet! Tweet! Jaylin’s team, the Tigers, were still in first place! Cheering, the boys ran to the sidelines. Jaylin walked slowly behind them. He was happy with the win, but Coach’s instructions — not to pass it to him — bothered him. Nevertheless, he joined the circle of players forming around Coach.

  “Great game today, boys,” Coach said, laughing. “A little too close for comfort, though.”

  Jaylin tugged off his heavy gloves as Greg, an attackman, approached. “You shut that dude down in the middle, Jay!” he said.

  “As usual, our defense was amazing,” Coach went on. “And we had just enough offense to pull out a win. But, boys…” Coach frowned. “I don’t think this level of offense is going to win in the playoffs. We’ll need to find three or four more goals per game if we want to go any further. Where are we going to find some offense?”

  No one said anything. DeAndre cleared his throat.

  “Coach, maybe you could let Jay play attack some time? In practice he’s got the hardest shot on the team.”

  “It’s a laser!” Greg said. Everyone laughed.

  Coach looked doubtful. “I’d love to play Jaylin on offense. I know he’s got an amazing shot. And his footwork is as good as anyone in the league. But…”

  “But I can’t catch,” Jaylin mumbled.

  “I was going to say we need your awesome defense,” Coach said.

  “We can adjust on defense,” DeAndre said. “We just need some more offense.”

  Coach scratched his head. “The truth is, Jay, your catching really does need to improve. To play attack, you have to be able to catch the ball consistently. For now we’ll keep the lineup as it is.”

  Jaylin knew Coach was right. He hated the fact that he couldn’t catch very well. No amount of practice seemed to help. He missed a lot of the passes thrown to him.

  Jaylin had been put on defense, where his quick feet and aggressiveness were great for stopping opponents’ attackmen… and where he didn’t have to catch many passes. The goalie usually started the Tigers’ clears by passing out to DeAndre, who passed it to a midfielder, who ran forward to start the offense and find an open attackman. Jaylin really wanted to play midfield, where his speed would allow him to help with both attack and defense.

  But Coach is right, Jaylin thought. My catching just isn’t good enough to play middie. And it probably never will be.

  CHAPTER 2

  LEFT SIDE REVELATION

  At practice on Tuesday, the team began by practicing cradling, turning the stick to keep the ball in the pocket. They practiced two-handed cradling, then one-handed cradling, which kept the ball secure while running. They also worked on stick checks, where a defensive player hits the stick of the person carrying the ball to dislodge it.

  Then they practiced passing to each other. Jaylin paired up with DeAndre. As usual, he missed about half the passes.

  “Maybe someday I’ll get bit by a super spider, and suddenly I’ll be the world’s best catcher,” Jaylin said, sighing. “’Cause this is not working.”

  “I wonder, Jay…” his friend said.

  “What?” Jaylin asked.

  “Let’s try an experiment,” DeAndre said. He threw ten passes to Jaylin’s right side. Jaylin caught nine out of ten. Then Dee threw the same number to Jaylin’s left side. He caught one out of ten.

  “Wow, I never noticed a pattern before,” said Jaylin.

  “This may be a dumb question, but when was the last time you had your eyes checked?”

  Jaylin thought about it. “I guess it’s been a couple years.”

  “You might want to get them checked again,” DeAndre said.

  After passing drills, the team worked on foot speed, staying in front of the ball handler, and defensive concepts. Then offensive concepts. Then they scrimmaged. Coach always let Jaylin play attack for a little while in scrimmages.

  During the scrimmage, Jaylin sent one laser after another into the goal. Top left corner. Top right corner. Bottom left. Bottom right. Hard bounce over the goalie’s stick.

  “How do you do that?” asked Greg, the right attackman. “I’d be an all-star if my shots were that good.”

  “And I’d love to catch like you,” Jaylin said.

  “Let’s combine skills,” Greg said.

  “I wish.”

  After practice, Coach gathered the players by the bench. “The good news is, we only need to win one of our two last games to make the playoffs.”

  “How ‘bout we win both, and show everyone who’s boss?” DeAndre said.

  “Yeah!” everyone cheered.

  CHAPTER 3

  A NEW VIEW

  “Which is clearer, one… or two?” Dr. Keen asked as she turned the dials on the clunky machine in front of Jaylin’s face.

  “Two.”

  “Okay, which is clearer, two or three?” More clicks and little circles of light. Letters came into, went out of, focus.

  “Three.” This went on for ten minutes. Then Dr. Keen pulled the giant machine away from Jaylin’s face.

  “Your prescription has changed quite a bit in your left eye,” said Dr. Keen. “We’ll order a new prescription and you’ll notice a difference immediately.”

  “Why has it changed so much?” Jaylin’s mom asked with a worried look. “Is there something wrong with Jay’s eye?”

  “Mom, you worry too much,” Jaylin shook his head.

  “No,” Dr. Keen explained. “It’s common for a child’s eyesight to change during growth spurts. The new lenses will help.”

  “Hopefully they’ll help me catch better,” Jaylin said.

  “I can’t promise that,” Dr. Keen said, “but you’ll certainly see the ball more clearly. It might take a little time for your brain and reflexes to catch up to each other.”

  They ordered new, stylish glasses in the optician’s office.

  “Mom, can I get athletic goggles too?”

  “I’m not sure, honey. They’re kind of expensive.”

  “But Mom, they’ll fit better under my facemask,” Jaylin said. Then he grinned slyly. “And my regular glasses won’t get broken when I play.”

  “You’ve got a point,” said Mom. “Okay, let’s order some athletic goggles.”

  “Thanks, Mom!”

  “But Jaylin,” Mom said seriously. Jaylin looked at her. “If I’m going to spend this much money, I want you to really commit to improving your game.”

  Jayli n stood up. “I promise.”

  * * *

  The goggles arrived on Friday. He and DeAndre tossed in Jaylin’s yard.

  “You look like you’re about to fly one of those old fashioned airplanes with those goggles,” Dee said.

  “Hey, they’re not supposed to be pretty. They’re flatter against my face than my glasses. And they wrap around so I’ll be able to see side-to-side a lot better.”

  “Cool. Then after the game you can go write a message in the sky with one of those little smoke airplanes.”

  “Let’s just smoke the Bears tomorrow,” Jaylin replied.

  “You know it!”

  They threw slowly at first, and close together. Gradually they began backing up and throwing harder passes.

  “Hey, you’re doing it!” Dee said.

  “Doing what?”

  “Catching passes on both sides!”

  Jaylin smiled. “I guess I am.” Just then DeAndre threw a pass high and to Jaylin’s left. He swooped it out of the air nice and clean, then cradled it with one hand as he ran straight at his friend. “Jaylin Buckley breaks for the goal, with only one slow, lazy defender in his way!”

  He faked to the left and executed a slick roll dodge to get around his friend. Dee flattened him with a hard check. Jaylin laughed and groaned as he lay on the grass.

  DeAndre reached to help him up. “Too bad the new goggles haven’t made you smarter!”

  CHAPTER 4

  A CHANCE AT MIDFIELD

  The Tigers circled their coach just before taking the field against the Bears.

  “These guys have a strong defense, but not such a great offense,” Coach reminded them.

  “Coach, can Jaylin play middie today?” DeAndre asked.

  “Hmm,” Coach said, rubbing his chin.

  “He got his eyes fixed,” DeAndre said. “Let’s get him involved in the offense.”

  Coach chuckled. “Jaylin, you need to hire this guy as your agent. Sure, now that you have your new glasses, we’ll try you out at midfield. I can’t put you on attack, because I need you to help out with the defense.”

  Coach looked at DeAndre. “You ready to play center defense? You’ll have to take charge of the D, Dee.”

  “I got this, Coach.”

  “Okay. Jay, you’re taking the face-off. Might as well get you involved right at the start.”

  Jaylin crouched at midfield with the head of his stick next to the ball. His heart pounded and he felt the breath of the player crouched across from him. The whistle blew. Lightning fast, Jaylin covered the ball with his stick head and dragged it to the side. His opponent lost his balance and lifted his stick. Jaylin scooped up the ball and ran toward the Bears’ net.

  As he approached the attack area, he whipped the ball to Greg, who was closing in from his right. It felt great to run the whole field.

  At first he hung back when his team was on offense, near the center of the field, so that he could dart back to help on defense. In the second quarter, Jaylin realized he was running the offense. Most of the passes ran through him at the top of the box before they went to either side or into the middle.

  At halftime, the Tigers were leading 7 to 6.

  “I think we’ve found our offense!” Coach could barely contain his smile.

  “You’re doing great,” said DeAndre, pounding Jaylin on the back so hard he coughed out his mouthful of water.

  In the third quarter, it was clear that the Bears had adjusted their game to the Tigers’ new lineup. They put a floating midfielder near Jaylin the whole time, disrupting passes and blocking his progress with hard checks.

  Jaylin felt like he was working twice as hard to accomplish half as much as he had in the first two quarters. Halfway through the quarter, the Bears tied the score at seven after a series of quick passes in the attack area.

  “Jaylin, you have to play defense, too!” yelled Coach as Jaylin stood with his hands on his knees at midfield. After the face-off, the Bears broke toward the Tigers’ attack area. A quick pass to the side, then a quick shot, which Mateo stopped.

  Jaylin, still near the center of the field, held up his stick for the outlet pass.

  Mateo turned toward Jaylin, then hesitated. Looked the other way. Looked back.

  “Hit me!” Jaylin yelled.

  “Do it!” DeAndre yelled.

  “One minute!” Coach yelled.

  Mateo reared back and launched a pass toward midfield. The ball went long, forcing Jaylin to run toward his left side. Fear gripped him. Why had Matty thrown the ball to his bad side? Wait, I got this fixed. I can do this. He reached out his stick to catch the pass.

  And missed the ball completely.

  A Bear midfielder scooped up the ball and broke for the Tigers’ goal. An attackman sailed in from the right. As DeAndre popped up in front of the first attackman, the guy flipped a hard pass to his teammate, who was running in front of the goal completely alone.

  Whiiish! The ball found the upper right corner of the net. Bears 8, Tigers 7.

  The Bears exploded in cheers. The quarter wasn’t over, but Jaylin felt like the air had been knocked out of his lungs. The rest of the team looked dazed too. Coach let another midfielder take the face-off, which he lost, and the ref soon blew the whistle. The Tigers walked off the field dejected.

  “What’s up?” Jaylin asked DeAndre. “Why was that guy all alone on the crease?”

  “We’re used to you running the defense,” DeAndre said, panting. “You’re faster than me. I can’t keep up with their attackman.”

  “You’ve got to anticipate what he’s going to do, Dee!”

  “I’m not a mind reader like you,” said DeAndre. “And besides, our middies aren’t getting back to help.”

  “I’m tired!” Jaylin complained.

  “Who’s not?” demanded DeAndre. “And how could you miss that pass? Matty threw it right to you!”

  “I don’t know, it was to my left.”

  “You got that fixed!”

  “Yeah, like a whole week ago!” Jaylin grabbed his water bottle. “Give me, like, a minute to get it right.”

  “How about ten minutes?” DeAndre demanded. “Otherwise we’re out of first place!”

  Jaylin and DeAndre were nose-to-nose. “It doesn’t matter how many minutes we have if you guys can’t stop their attack!” Jaylin was shouting now.

  “Stop it, both of you!” Coach grabbed both boys by the shirt and pulled them back into the circle. “Up till now you’ve all played an amazing game. We fell apart there at the end of the third, but they’re only up by one.”

  “I can’t do it, Coach,” said Jaylin with his head down.

  “What do you mean?” asked Coach. “You can’t do what?”

  “I can’t catch yet.”

  “That’s not true! You caught… more than usual.” Coach looked uncomfortable.

  “I missed when it counted. I want to go back to defense.”

  Coach kicked the grass. “Okay, Jaylin, go back and take over the middle of the defense. DeAndre, back to left D. Damien, back to middie and face-off. Everyone okay?”

  No one answered. “All right, get back out there and let’s get one back.”

  They didn’t get anything back. The Bears scored twice more, winning the game 10-7.

  “I thought we had our offense figured out,” Damien said.

  “I know,” said Coach. “I thought so too. But we broke down and I’m not sure what we’re going to do next week. If the Bulldogs win today, which they should, that will put us in third place. We will have to beat them next week to make the playoffs.”

  “I hope I can help more than I did today,” Jaylin muttered as he walked off the field. “Where’s that super spider when you need it?”

  CHAPTER 5

  BACK TO DEFENSE

  On Monday, Jaylin texted DeAndre.

  “Sorry for what I said on Saturday. Practice at my house after school?”

  Soon his phone buzzed.

  “UR a jerk. See you there.”

  After school, the friends practiced their passing and catching. They passed standing still. They passed while running. They passed turning in circles. They even passed backward, tossing the ball over their shoulders while running one behind the other. Jaylin only got hit in the head once.

 

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