Hail to the Chiefs

In 1969, five players from a powerhouse high school soccer program enroll at Bainbridge University, where football is everything and soccer has only just become a varsity sport. Worse yet, the coach has never played the game, the upcoming schedule is a killer, and the Bainbridge team has won only two games in the past year. Life is about to become very challenging for these freshman used to being winners.

Andrew Paxton, a captain of the former high school soccer team, is now sharing a dorm room with his best friend and star teammate, Brian Barrett. But trouble brews when Barrett clashes with the coach and members of the football team. Paxton, ever loyal to his best friend, has his own share of problems. He has silently carried a torch since the seventh grade for Barrett's ex-girlfriend, who followed him to Bainbridge hoping to win him back.

Meanwhile, the soccer team faces one hurdle after another when Barrett threatens to quit and the team loses one of its stars to injury. During a time when soccer was still in its infancy in the U.S., the players must try to turn around a losing college program and, in the process, come to grips with the realities of friendship and love.

Kirkus Reviews says: "Together, the group of friends, which grows to include a few beloved girls, navigates the ups and downs of college, teamwork, illness and even death. For any reader who’s played soccer at a school dominated by football, this shot on goal scores." http://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-rev...