Girls' soccer is the exciting focus in this third book in the Lucy series, and the sports action, along with the drama of friends and enemies, on the team and in the neighborhood, will hold readers. The author is a minister, and without heavy messages, she weaves in the biblical story of brave Queen Esther as Lucy defeats her evil teammate (who is similar to Haman in the Bible) and keeps the team safe. Middle-graders new to the series will have trouble keeping track of the huge cast of multiracial kids in the small New Mexico town, and they will want to go back to the previous books about how Lucy's mother was killed and her father was blinded in Iraq. But the dialogue is fast and fun, and soccer fans will love the details of dribbling, passing, and scoring as well as the messages of sportsmanship and the rules that nobody says out loud. Of course, the nonreligious will not agree that the solution to the conflict is to start the game with prayer.