Luda’s Letters #7

This Wednesday I had the chance to be a part of something great! We had a game at home against Nice Futis and it was undoubtedly my favorite game of the season with HJK Naiset. About a month ago, we finished up our regular season games. Being in the bottom 4 of the league meant our postseason would be spent fighting to avoid regulation instead of fighting for a medal. This was disappointing of course, but I am so proud of how we have reacted to the situation. We’ve been playing together as a team and it has been amazing to watch and be a part of after our difficult regular season. After 3 games, we’ve scored 10 goals and walked away with 7 points. We are enjoying playing and I’m excited to see what we can do in our remaining 3 games.

After playing up in Oulu last weekend, we had a quick turnaround with our next game being just 4 days away. As a player, game days are the best days so I was happy even though my body was a little tired. With our game being midweek and with the weather getting colder all the time, I didn’t expect many people to turn out to watch the match. Nonetheless I was ready to play Nice Futis because we haven’t beaten them all year and I knew we could put up a good fight, especially with how we had been playing lately. As warm-ups continued before the game, I kept seeing fans filling up the stands. I soon realized the HJK girls teams had come to watch and give out team awards after the game. They created an amazing atmosphere to play in and it was the best crowd we’ve had all season! The total attendance was 321 which may not sound like a lot but it was over double what we usually have. Also the fans weren’t just sitting and watching, they were cheering, screaming, and yelling the entire 90 minutes. I wish we could’ve had them at all our home games and I hope that this can be the start of a great relationship between HJK Naiset and HJK youth teams.

I’m sure the spirit of the fans affected our play and fight during the game. We were down 0-2 at halftime but after a few changes, we came back out and were able to score a few minutes into the second half. Unfortunately Nice Futis came back and scored right away, making the score 1-3 but there was still plenty of time left. That’s when we went to work! In less than 10 minutes we had tied the game up at 3-3. The rest of the game was a battle and we had some close chances. We almost ran away with a win but I was proud to see the team spirit and attitude we had to get an important point. This game made me so excited about getting to play Nice Futis one more time up in Pori and I’m sure it will be another great challenge. I want to thank every supporter that was at the game Wednesday, especially all the HJK girls! You all were amazing and appreciated by everyone from HJK Naiset. We hope to see you at our last home game this season on 18.10 and at even more games next season!