Lady Mustangs prepare to meet Joshua
Winning a state championship is the ultimate benchmark. But there are others that programs can use to designate as a successful season.
Grapevine’s girls soccer program continued its push toward a Class 5A state championship with a 2-0 victory over Burleson Centennial in the Region I area playoff round. But this program reached the 20-win plateau.
Grapevine (20-2-1) was set to meet Joshua in the Region I quarterfinals at White Settlement Brewer. The winner advanced to the Region I semifinals this Friday in Wichita Falls where it would meet the winner of El Paso Eastlake-Abilene Cooper.
“You’re always striving to set some goals like 30 wins in basketball and volleyball,” Grapevine coach Steve McBride said. “This is a great achievement. In my 17 years as a head coach, I’ve only been fortunate to have this happen four times. It tells me we’ve been fortunate. We’ve had to stay healthy. A lot of things have to happen to get that. But we really don’t talk about it.”
The Lady Mustangs have won at least two playoff games in three of the past four years. In the win over the Lady Spartans, Jordan Slim and Ellen Colburn each scored.
Colburn had been struggling through this season with an ankle injury. However, she returned to the team in the last regular season game against Fort Worth Eastern Hills and then saw playing time in the bi-district playoff 7-0 win over Azle.
The Centennial game demonstrated how much of an influence she can have on a game. Grapevine’s offense moved even better, McBride said. Colburn also has the versatility to play either midfield or forward.
“Ellen makes the players around her much better,” he said. “She’s a great penetrator on the dribble. She can draw enough attention to where other players can be in a position to do something great. Her discipline is really something that is behind this.”
While the score may have indicated a close game, it really wasn’t. Grapevine had 19 scoring chances. Centennial had three. The Lady Mustangs had to deal with some frustrations and some strong winds from the south.
“Credit the kids because they never lost faith,” McBride said. “But we did the same things that we were supposed to do.”
Colleyville Heritage ends season
The Lady Panthers (11-7-5) saw a solid season come to an end in the Class 6A Region I area playoff round when they fell to Byron Nelson, 2-0.
To make it ironic, Colleyville Heritage coach Misail Tsapos watched his daughter Katina score the second goal to pretty much put the game out of reach.
“It’s all part of the business,” Tsapos said. “I thought the first half we got outplayed. They put a ton of pressure on us. They were dominating.”
While Tsapos has enjoyed success at Colleyville Heritage, he still is trying to put this program into a different stratosphere. Consider that the Lady Panthers’ seven losses came to three teams: Nelson (twice), Carroll (twice) and Coppell (three times).
“We matured as the season progressed,” Tsapos said. “We take a lot of positives because we found a way to get through spells where we couldn’t buy a goal and still won. Technically, we’re getting better. Tactically, that’s my job. From a psychology standpoint of beating those teams, I have to find a way to help these girls get the mentality that they are the better player where they can beat you.”
Several key players return to this team in 2016 in midfielders Jasmyn Solllars and Allie Lumpkin and forward Shine Pickler.
This story was originally published April 6, 2015 at 3:48 PM with the headline "Lady Mustangs prepare to meet Joshua."