Soccer playoff preview: Top 5 Fort Worth-area boys and girls teams and players to watch
Boys
Teams
KELLER
The Indians ended the regular season with a 19-2 record, a 76-21 goal differential and 15-game winning streak. Keller went 12-0 in District 4-6A and finished as the top-ranked team in the Fort Worth-area Class 6A rankings.
Keller allowed eight goals in 12 district games.
Phil Hill is the team’s leading scorer (14 goals) while Andrew Sanchez has a team-high 39 points.
GRAPEVINE
The Mustangs haven’t dropped a match all season while sporting a 23-0-1 record. The only game Grapevine didn’t win came in February during a 1-1 draw with Lake Dallas that went into overtime.
Grapevine finished the season as the No. 1 area team in the Class 5A rankings. The Mustangs have three players with 15 or more goals in Leo Londe (18), Tanner Anstis (18) and Carlos Barrientos (16).
COLLEYVILLE HERITAGE
The Panthers reached the Class 5A Region 1 final last season and were just a win away from a state appearance. It was the program’s deepest playoff run all-time.
Heritage followed it up with a 19-2-2 regular season finish and No. 2 ranking in the area for 5A.
Goalkeepers Bryce Cottle and Logan Graves have combined for nine shutouts.
FW TRIMBLE TECH
The Bulldogs finished the regular season with the most wins for any Fort Worth-area team (24-3-1). They won the District 7-5A championship while out scoring district opponents 37-12.
Overall, Tech has posted 16 shutouts. Three players have scored at least 13 goals (Julian Hernandez 17, Daniel Gutierrez 15 and Ivan Mulgado 13).
FW DIAMOND HILL-JARVIS
The only Fort Worth-area boys soccer team to reach the UIL state championship last season, the Eagles are looking for a repeat trip after clinching a district title and No. 1 seed in the Class 4A brackets.
DHJ, No. 1 in the final area small-school rankings, has allowed 14 goals in 21 matches and own an eight-game winning streak. The Eagles are led by freshman Alex Ibarra’s 16 goals and 16 assists.
Players
Chase Turcotte, Sr., Mansfield Lake Ridge: Turcotte has recorded 27 goals and 13 assists, which includes a hat trick in his final two regular season games. Has scored a goal in all but one game for the Eagles.
Cade Ryan, Sr., Colleyville Heritage: Has registered team-highs 18 goals and 13 assists.
Jonathan De La Torre, Sr., FW Wyatt: Tied for third most goals in the Dallas-Fort Worth area with 31. Scored a goal in all but one game for 19-3 Wyatt, including multiple scores in nine matches.
Connor Webster, Sr., Argyle: His 33 goals are ranked most in the Dallas-Fort Worth area through the UIL regular season. Webster has nine hat tricks this season and needs one goal for 70 in his career according to MaxPreps.
Esteban Mercado, Sr., Castleberry: The senior has netted 21 goals in just 15 games for the Lions and recently recorded his 100th goal of his career. Helped Lions to co-district championship.
Girls
Teams
SOUTHLAKE CARROLL
The Dragons went wire-to-wire as the best Fort Worth-area girls soccer team in Class 6A. They enter the postseason (their 23rd consecutive trip) with a 15-1-4 record and the District 4-6A championship.
The 2019 state champ hasn’t dropped a game in two months and feature a strong core of underclassmen, especially six starting freshmen (Kennedy Fuller, Olivia Geller, Hannah Jordan, Zoe Matthews, Parker Wilkerson, Abby Mills).
MANSFIELD
The Tigers are 20-2 and look to redeem themselves at the Class 6A Region 2 tournament.
Mansfield was knocked out in the regional semifinals last season. Mansfield has scored 97 goals in 22 games and has only surrendered 12 on defense. The Tigers enter the playoffs with 15 shutouts.
GRAPEVINE
Like Carroll, Grapevine also went wire-to-wire as the best team in Class 5A after posting a 16-2-1 record.
The Mustangs are among the top Fort Worth-area teams in the past decade with four trips to state, including a semifinal appearance last season before losing to Frisco Wakeland.
Sam Larsen leads the team in goals with 18.
ARGYLE
The Eagles are tied for second-best winning percentage during the regular season in the Fort Worth area. Argyle has only given up nine goals in 21 games while netting 131 on offense.
This year’s team has a great shot at winning the program’s first state title.
Emma Sheehan and Sophie Placke have combined for 42 goals and 26 assists.
MIDLOTHIAN HERITAGE
The defending Class 4A champions are 16-3-3 this season. The Jaguars ride a 10-game winning streak and have out scored teams 117-18. Heritage has posted 14 shutouts.
Five different players have scored more than 10 goals, led by Sydney Dickson’s 24.
Players
Graycen Rasmussen, Sr., Joshua: The Lubbock Christian bound scorer has 43 goals, the most among any UIL player in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Helped the Owls to their first district title since 2018.
Allie Love, Soph., Colleyville Heritage: Tied for third in the Fort Worth-area with 31 goals. Love, who also stars in cross country and track, has scored 58 times in the past two seasons.
Addy Welch, Sr., Mansfield: South Florida signee has 29 goals and ranks fifth in the Fort Worth-area with 69 points. Led the Tigers to the District 11-6A championship and a No. 1 playoff seed.
Theresa McCullough, Jr., Grapevine: Last season’s all-area offensive MVP (24 goals, 29 assists) is having another double-double season, including an area leading 23 assists. Recently committed to Baylor.
Hanna Khan, Sr., Southlake Carroll: The 4-year starter and Trinity University signee is leading the top-ranked Carroll Dragons in goals (18) and points (44). Khan has started in 55 of 56 games in the past three seasons.
This story was originally published March 23, 2022 at 12:18 PM.