Finding a Keeper

Sloan Rossi is about to go to college on a soccer scholarship. She has spent the past six years living in London and playing for a well-known team. Now, she’s ready to bring her talents back to the States in hopes of developing into a world-class footballer and heading back to England to play for the English Premier League one day.

When Sloan arrives as a freshman thinking she’d get the starting spot in her role as a forward, she is mistaken. An injury to their goalkeeper and a backup goalie forces Sloan into a different role on the team than she had planned, but she happens to be good at it.

Too good if you ask Marley Nichols, the star goalie for Winterpark University. Marley is a junior, with her sights set on playing in the NWSL after graduation. An injury sidelines her for the entire season, putting a freshman who’s never played goal into the starting spot.

The real problem with all of this isn’t that Sloan’s good and Marley’s worried about losing her spot. It’s that Sloan has become a friend; a best friend, really. And as the two spend time together over the course of the school year and the summer, it develops into more for Marley.

Sloan hasn’t ever thought about being with another woman before. She’s suffered loss after loss in her life, and she puts her heart into her sport. When she and Marley spend an entire year getting to know each other, though, Sloan starts to think that maybe Marley isn’t just her best friend. Maybe she’s something more altogether.