Grapevine girls’ soccer season ends in state semifinals with loss to Wakeland
Grapevine girls soccer (11-11-4) has a history of success, with seven state tournament appearances in the last decade, but wasn’t expected to make a deep run after an average performance in the regular season.
Despite finishing fourth in District 6-5A play, the Grapevine Mustangs embarked on a Cinderella run, galloping all the way to the UIL Class 5A Division 2 state semifinals, where they met its toughest opponent yet: Frisco Wakeland, the 2024 Class 5A state champion.
On Friday, April 4 at Coppell High School, Grapevine’s season came to an end with a 3-0 loss to the Wolverines. Wakeland (24-0-1) will face Cedar Park (24-2-1) in the Class 5A Division 2 state championship on Friday, April 11 in Georgetown at Birkelbach Field.
Although the heartbreak of a semifinal loss stung, Grapevine head coach Steve McBride was proud and said he never expected the team to make it this far.
“We’re an 11 loss team,” McBride said. “But those 11 losses, they made us grow up really fast. We peaked at the right time when we got into the playoffs and we got on a pretty good run there. We knocked off some really good teams.”
Grapevine started the season with an abysmal 1-6-3 record but kept finding small victories, and soon, the Mustangs started to see improvement.
“These kids kept showing up and kept believing and kept grinding,” McBride said. “We kept telling them as coaches, God rewards his soldiers, and he has blessed us — Blessed us with an amazing run and an amazing opportunity to be in the state tournament.”
It was a shocking run built on an ability to believe that anything is possible, but in the end, Wakeland’s dominance was too much to handle. The Wolverines haven’t lost a game since the 2023 season.
“(Wakeland) has great players,” McBride said. “Great coaches. And they have a standard that they live up to. And it’s that simple. You can see it from the first minute of the game.”
In the first half, Wakeland’s Morgan Landry was set for a penalty kick after a foul on a breakaway. Grapevine goalkeeper Brooke Bereuter made a solid save, but the rebound went right back to Landry, who gave the Wolverines a 1-0 lead.
Wakeland’s Audrey Gilbert extended the lead with a strike from 15 yards out that went off the hands of Bereuter, into the air and in the back of the goal.
Wakeland, with less than two minutes left in the first half, notched their third goal. After a shot, the ball was up for grabs near the goal, and Kendi Smith was there to put it in. In the second half, with a solid lead, the Wolverines continued to control the tempo, and their defense held strong, shutting out the Mustangs.
McBride said Grapevine couldn’t have had a worse start but emphasized the pride he held for the Mustang’s ability to respond in the second half.
“To come back and grind and fight through and keep them off the board in the second half was huge for our kids,” McBride said. “Super, super proud of my girls. Proud of my coaches. But more than anything, I’m just honored to be here. This is a blessing.”
Grapevine advanced to the state semifinals with a come-from-behind victory over Argyle, the District 6-5A champion. The Mustangs forced overtime and won in a penalty kick shootout to eliminate the Eagles, a team that beat them twice in the regular season.
McBride said the resiliency the 2024-25 Mustangs showed was “off the charts.”
“They never step back,” McBride said. “They never stopped. They just kept playing.”
This story was originally published April 4, 2025 at 8:39 PM.
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