Archives > Sports > Schools
Print
E-mail
Comment
Rate
RSS
Share
Wildcard: Dallas Texans' journey culminates with national tournament berth
BY Matt Welch, mwelch@starlocalnews.com
Somehow, someway, the Dallas Texans Red North 97 Girls will be one of the four finalists in Sacramento, Calif., on Wednesday for the President's Cup National Championships.
It's only fitting after the hand dealt the way of the local club soccer squad, which features Plano natives Kelly Bramblett and Madison Le.
"They call it the journey to nationals," said Stephanie Cherry, Texans manager, "just because we've had heartbreaks along the way and now we get a second chance. They've been training every day of the week trying to cram in as much as they can before we leave Wednesday morning."
The run through pool play did more than instill doubt into whether or not the Texans would advance to the semifinals, with starters Kelly London and Kat Knabe colliding during play.
"Kat's head went into Kelly's hip and she went down with a concussion," Cherry said. "We thought [Kelly] broke her leg but thankfully it was just a hip contusion."
Cherry tended to the two, as they were taken to the hospital while already saddling the possibility that the team's bid for nationals was already over. But having won their two previous pool play matches to finish 2-0-1, the Texans' seven points proved just enough to eke into the semifinals as the fourth and final entrant.
"I was at the emergency room with two of our players thinking that we were done," Cherry said, "and then we started calculating all the points in the tournament and realized that we had made it through."
The injuries didn't deter London and Knabe from being on hand for the semifinals to watch their teammates battle fellow state club Texas Rush Nike Blue 96/97.
"When we came back for the semifinals, the girls were loopy on pain medication," Cherry said, "but they wanted to watch the end of the game so I drove them over and we sat in a golf cart -- Kat in a neck brace and Kelly on crutches -- and watched the remainder with poor Kelly nodding off from the morphine."
The squads were gridlocked at 1-1 after regulation, setting up a round of penalty kicks. The two squads traded goals until Texans keeper Amanda Morgan finally broke serve on Rush's fourth attempt.
"[Penalty kicks] are not meant to be stopped," Cherry said. "A PK is what it is; it's a free shot on the keeper and Amanda managed to punch one over the top of the net. It was a beautiful save."
The emotions were too high even for head coach Ian Farley to handle.
"Our coach is extremely superstitious," Cherry said. "Prior to the PK's, he walked all the way to the far end of the field with a towel over his head because he couldn't watch. When [Morgan] saved that PK, he took the towel off and was fist-pumping."
That left things in the hands of Briana Marin on the 10th attempt, who promptly tickled the twine to seal the victory for the Texans.
The celebrations proved short-lived though, as just the next day it was North Carolina's GUSA Navy G that came away with a 1-0 victory in the finals to send the Texans packing -- albeit not without some controversy.
"We dominated that game," Cherry said. "The goal they scored was late in the game and Amanda actually saved the first shot and then one of the girls on the other team came in for the rebound and kicked Amanda in the face. She had a hematoma on her face the size of a grapefruit.
"She went down, the referee didn't call it and on the rebound, another girl kicked it in for the goal."
Despite the hope that seemingly withered away that Sunday afternoon in Greensboro, N.C., a phone call on June 23 changed everything. Of the four regional champions that had advanced to nationals, money issues precluded Region II winner DASC Elite (South Dakota) from being able to make the trip to Sacramento.
The Texans were tabbed as the replacement.
"I cried," Cherry said. "My coach called me at 12:30 that day, asked if I was sitting down and then that we had gotten a ticket to nationals. I started crying because the girls were so disappointed with that loss because they had worked so hard."
Dallas was under the gun though, given just four hours to give the U.S. Youth Soccer committee an answer. Not only tasked with having to inform players and parents of the news, Cherry and Farley had to get the latter to commit to the expense required as well as purchase airline tickets right under the 14-day window.
In the end, all is well and the Texans will be bound for Sacramento on Wednesday.
"They basically chose one wildcard based on a specific criteria that we met," Cherry said. "I'm not sure what the criteria was but for the tournament it has us listed as a wildcard."
Since news broke of the Texans' invite to nationals, the team has been scrambling to raise as much money as possible to cover things like hotel costs, meals and travel expenses.
Amid checks mailed in by parents and a car wash, the team has began an online fundraiser at its website (http://dtrn97girls.org) where people to donate money to support the team's upcoming trip.
It hasn't deterred the team's preparations for the four-team Round Robin tourney, which runs Wednesday through Sunday. Fifteen players will be making the trip, including London and Morgan, the latter still donning a hematoma and black eye, Knabe's concussion will prevent her from playing.
With pool play spanning Thursday through Saturday, the Texans will meet FPYC Wildcats Blue, Co. United White and of course, a rematch with GUSA Navy G in hoping of making good on a second chance.
"We're not taking any of the competition lightly," Cherry said. "Every game will be important to us, we've got one game a day and we're preparing for each game one at a time.
"We want to bring a national championship back to North Texas."
The following are comments from the readers.
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
You must register with a valid email to post comments.
Only your Member ID will be posted with the comments.
Only your Member ID will be posted with the comments.
Registered users sign in here:
Become a Registered User
- Return to: Plano West «
- Home «
- Top of Page ^
