Trinity soccer teams endure tough seasons, look to future
When the UIL soccer playoffs start later this month, neither the Trinity boys nor girls will be a part of the brackets. Even with a handful of games still left to play, both have already been eliminated from postseason contention.
For the girls, it was always expected to be a season with bumps in the road. Bringing seven freshmen to a roster that featured six additional first-year lettermen, the youth and inexperience were going to be fiercely challenged in District 7-6A.
“It’s tough in this district when you have 13 of 21 as new lettermen,” girls coach Kurt Clawson said. “If you can transition young players in slowly, it’s easier. Or if you’re in an easier district. But when you’re in a tough district and you have to count on significant contributions from several new lettermen and you have Southlake Carroll and Coppell in your district, it makes for a tougher transition.”
Inconsistency plagued the Lady Trojans all season long, and the team never settled after trying multiple formation and lineup changes. Trinity entered the week just 2-6-1 in district play. With the two-year future of its district expected to be just as challenging after realignment, there’s plenty left to do.
“We’ve still got some work to do experience-wise for the last three games, and then we’ve got a whole lot of work to do in the offseason to get ready for the district we’ve got to face,” Clawson said.
It will be just the second time in a decade that the Trinity girls have missed the playoffs.
The boys will miss the postseason for the third consecutive year. Playoffs were a driving motivation for this group, but simply couldn’t climb the mountain.
“It’s not gone the way we hoped it would go,” head coach Tracy Duren said. “We couldn’t finish games against quality competition.”
The boys were just 1-7-1 entering the week, but Duren insists they haven’t let down.
“My kids have fought hard,” he said. “It’s just been mistake here, mistake there. Enough to cost you a game. They’re working hard and I’m proud of them for that, but it’s just not working out the way anyone would have liked.”
One upside to the year has been the contribution of three freshmen who look to be solid building blocks for the future. Ahmet Ramovic, Colby Parton and Amir Ljuso all made the leap straight to varsity.
“Personally I think that’s hard to do at the tender age of 14 to get thrown directly into the frying pan,” Duren said. “They’ve handled it like champions.”
Both the girls and boys teams will wrap their seasons with games against Coppell on Friday and versus Richland next Tuesday.
This story was originally published February 29, 2016 at 11:31 AM with the headline "Trinity soccer teams endure tough seasons, look to future."