2009 STYSA Super II Champions

The phrase “its not a destination, it’s a journey” has never been more appropriate for a soccer team than it is for the Quest Select Under 18 girls this season. It began back in the spring with this group of girls wanting to just play, and have some fun. Now here we are in December and this group of girls has really experienced their ups and downs. After finishing the fall season with a record of 6 wins, 2 ties against a single loss; these girls are now U18 Super 2 State Champions.

The first match in the state finals would match the Quest girls against the number 1 seed from the Western District, AC Tigres-Storm. It would be the Storm that would strike first in this match in only the 8th minute on a break-away the Storm striker’s first shot was saved but she recovered her own rebound and finished the follow up attempt. The Storm girls would extend their lead in the 32nd minute on a very hard shot ball out of the mid-field which found its way into the Quest net. This would be the last goal conceded by the Quest goal keeper, Shelby, for the duration of the weekend, as her level of play would rise up to this challenge. Down 2-0 and with their backs against the wall the Quest girls would dig deep and strike back 10 minutes later. In the 42nd minute Haleigh would break out of the pack and take a great shot from 28 yards out lifting the teams’ spirits and cutting the Storm lead in half as the match would reach the halfway mark. The second half would prove to be a different story completely as the Quest defense led by Theresa, Elyssa, Elizabeth (Lizzy) and Nikki would raise their level of play and shut down the Storm attack. This would allow the Quest mid fielders the time and space to control the flow for the remainder of the match. Outstanding midfield play from Kelli, Haleigh, Carlee, Tiffany, Christina, Brittney, Erin Y., Brittani and Erin W. would keep the pressure on the Storm defense for most of the second half and allow several goal scoring opportunities for Select. In the 17th minute of the second half Select would pull the match level on a corner kick sent across the face of the goal by Theresa, deflected back across the goal by Carlee and driven home by Erin W. After several additional attacks led by strikers Analise, Christina and Kelli the Quest girls set up for another corner kick in the 29th minute. This time it was a great ball driven across the six yard box that deflected off the goal keeper’s hands and another defender before falling into the Storm goal. With their first lead of the match the Select girls would close out this match with good ball possession and tenacious defense.

The second match of the finals pitted the Quest girls against the Lady Dragons from Western District. Being the second match of the day and with the rain continuing to fall the pace of the match wouldn’t be as fast or crazy as the opener, however it would still prove to the a very exciting match. The first half would be closely contested for every ball and every play as each team both had opportunities and strong defenses. With the match entering the second half of play and the score still tied 0-0, the Quest girls would assume control of this match and keep the Dragon defense on their heels for the majority of the second half. Quest goal keeper Shelby would record a clean sheet as after several good saves some outstanding defense from Nikki, Lizzy, Elyssa and Jordan. The Quest attack was led by strikers Analise, Kelli, Megan (Red), Haleigh and Christina who would combine to keep the Dragon keeper busy for most of the second half. With the midfield being dominated by the Quest central players including Carlee, Theresa, Erin Y, Brittney, Tiffany, Brittani and Erin W the Dragon attack was almost nonexistent throughout the second half of play. With several very good opportunities to break the tie late in the second half the strong Quest attach simply could not find the elusive goal and this match would end in a scoreless draw.

Sunday would bring some excitement to the field as the Select girls would be looking to avenge their only loss of the season against the top seeded Klein Pride from Houston. It would not take long for this match to really heat up as both teams came out very physical challenging every loose ball. It would be in the 12 minute of the opening half that would prove to be the turning point in the match. After a foul, about 25 yards from the Pride goal, Theresa would send a very hard driven ball across the goal area deflecting off the keeper who would then try to clear the ball with her feet. The loose ball was picked up by Christina, who would take a very nice first touch then drive the ball into the back of the Pride net. The goal was not allowed to stand as the AR was struggling to see the Pride defenders marking each of the post and the official ruling was offside. However, from this point on in the match the Quest girls would dominate play and keep the Pride girls on the heels. The match would eventually end in a scoreless draw, with Quest Select finishing with enough points to secure first place in the Under 18 Super 2 bracket.

This article would not be complete without mentioning two girls that have made enormous contributions to this team. The first is Elyssabeth “E”, E played goal keeper for us this fall season, unfortunately she suffered a concussion in our last season match and was not able to participate in the final weekend. The second is Jenna, Jenna has been playing defensive holding midfield for us all year. Unfortunately, she re-aggravated an injury to her hip just days before the state tournament and was not able to play this weekend. Without these two girls we would not have been at the state competition, however they did not miss a match as they stayed on the sidelines and provided advice and encouragement throughout all three matches.

Quest Girls Claim Eastern District Seed into STYSA Playoffs

The Quest girls ended their regular season with a very damp, cold match against the Houston Express. Quest started the match slowly, however strong play by goal keeper Elyssabeth (“E”) throughout the match kept Express from scoring more than a single goal in the first half. The wet field and a sleepy AR did not help as the Express girls made several strong attacks again our girls early. Express did break through in the 19th min, but the Quest defense picked up the pace and did not allow any additional opportunities for the remainder of the half.

The second half was almost like a different team as the Quest girls came out strong putting a lot of pressure on the Express defense early and often. After a pass-back was called on the Express keeper Quest capitalized on the free kick with a dropped ball assist from Jordan and a strong shot by Jenna putting the ball in the back of the net in the 22nd min. The pressure would not end as the Quest girls again found themselves in a free kick situation in the 27th min. This time is was a direct shot from deep in the Express defensive third as the bending ball off Jenna foot hit the far post side netting putting the Quest girls up for the first time in the match.

The match would then turn very ugly as the referee would make a huge impact throwing cards on both teams, delaying the match in the rain to send off a parent and letting the half go well over 50 minutes. It would be in these extra minutes that the outcome of the match would change. In the 51st min Express would go on a breakaway, draw a foul and receive a PK to pull this match level.

However a draw was good enough as the point secured Quest into the number two see for the STYSA Fall Championships this weekend in Austin. Congratulations to all the girls as each and every one of them have made great contributions in every match. Join me in personally congratulating Jo, Lizzy, El, Nikki, Theresa, Jenna, Carlee, Haleigh, Red, Christina, Erin Y., Erin W., Tiffany, Brittney, Brittani, Analise, Kelli and “E”.

We will see you at the state playoffs!!

Keeping a Good Weekend in Perspective

Sometimes in soccer, when you are not scoring 5 goals a game and winning every match it is hard to stay focused on what is truly important. This past weekend was one of those weekends when not much was going our way on the field. We missed several close shots, the keepers on the other teams were making some great saves, and it seemed that every shot the other teams took were just right to fall in on us. Well, I thought I would take this opportunity to push the cloud away from Eeyore.

While we did not play at the top of our game this weekend, we did have several shinning moments, the first one that comes to mind is the girls all laying in a circle in the hotel lobby playing some game they made up. Just kidding, although that was fun, actually we did play some very good U18 Division 1 teams this weekend and for the most part we played toe-to-toe with them, most of the time. The real purpose of this tournament was to have our players exposed to college coaches from as many different colleges as possible. I personally spoke with many coaches that were interested in girls from our team, and many of them are looking at several girls from our roster. If you did not take advantage of this weekend and send out E-mails to college coaches I would encourage you to consider using this tool in the future. We will be playing another showcase event in the spring and I strongly encourage everyone to start making contact with coaches from colleges that you would like to attend. I don’t want to give you a false since of reality, so let me clarify. For example, the coach from University of Texas at Dallas attended a couple of our games. If you are interested in engineering, nursing or education this is a great school for those programs, the classes are much smaller than the mega campuses and the coach can help you put together what they call a package. The package will include any scholarship funds from academics, club or other outside scholarships, the department of your major, the soccer scholarship budget and finally the balance that they will help with any potential grants, then finally student loans. You might be able to reduce the cost of school by as much as half or more but it take some effort. Please feel free to contact me directly if you have any questions or even talk to John as he had done countless hours of research on many different schools and coaches.

On the field, we also had some other shinning moments, Joey and I got a chance to watch our girls play against several collegiate athletes. Many of the girls we played against are already committed to playing in college next season. We had the experience of playing at the highest level and at a faster pace than we have seen all year. This experience will prove invaluable as we compete in the President’s Cup this spring and Division 1 next fall. We definitely learned how to better defend corner kicks, we experienced playing angles against teams with as much or more speed than us, and we saw how important first touch is at the highest level. I told the girls before our match Sunday morning just how proud I am of them and how much they have accomplished this season. I hope that each of you, are as proud of your own player as I am of them and the team as a whole. We will have one last season match then it will be off to the state playoffs. So before we get too discouraged, remember just how talented our girls are and let’s give them credit for all the work they have put in over the entire season.