Grapevine stuns Wakeland; Mustangs survive onslaught, head to state title game — PHOTOS

Grapevine girls soccer coach Steven McBride said his team “just needed one break.”

Well, the Mustangs got that break in the form of a misplay by Frisco Wakeland that resulted in a goal by sophomore Paola Granados, giving Grapevine a stunning 1-0 win on Friday in a Class 5A Division II state semifinal at the Ford Center.

Grapevine (18-5-6), which lost to Wakeland in the state semifinals last season, will take its redemption all the way to Georgetown and a date at 4 p.m. Friday with Montgomery Lake Creek (17-6-2) for the state championship.

“Last year, whenever we got knocked out, our coach said that we were going to see them again next year, and for the entire 365 days we’ve been waiting for this,” said Grapevine senior goalkeeper Brooke Bereuter, who was stellar in between the pipes. “We’ve been putting everything out on the field in practice and in the playoffs, and I just think that it showed today.”

Grapevine didn’t only need a break, it needed armor, as previously undefeated Wakeland (25-1-0) pounded 22 shots at the Mustangs, seven on goal, but Bereuter and the Grapevine back line cleared the ball time and time again.

“We knew how incredibly talented that Wakeland is and that we weren’t going to see a lot of the ball,” McBride said. “We just dug in and wanted to play off the counter. I told the girls to make this a short game, and if we can get them into the second half, then anything can happen.

“And you saw it there with Paola [Granados], who scores a great goal. We get them behind and ice the game and what an incredible effort in the last 17 minutes, just Herculean.”

A lot of the Mustangs’ strategy against the Wolverines was to get the ball out wide and then double that player and just try to frustrate Wakeland, which Grapevine did time and time again.

“We were ready for it,” said Bereuter. “We were ready for any shot that was there. We knew that every shot from them was going to be relatively on frame, and I just think that we were mentally and physically prepared.”

Wakeland had reeled off nine shots by eight players before the Mustangs took their first shot, on goal, in the 31st minute. But it was Grapevine’s third and final shot of the game that mattered the most.

A misplay by the Wolverines was taken by Chloe O’Steen and delivered to Granados, who punched it past the keeper from 15 yards out in the 56th minute for what turned out to be the only score of the match.

“I saw that Chloe had the ball and she was able to flick it behind the defender,” said Granados. “The ball was loose and I saw the defender coming and just stretched as far as I could to get my foot on it.”

Wakeland got the final six shots of the match off in the last 13 minutes of the game, all of them by senior Audrey Gilbert. A blast from 30 yards out by Gilbert in the 77th minute was just deflected up by Bereuter, hitting the crossbar and bouncing back.

“We’ve talked all year about wanting to get back here, and this is where you have to give this group credit,” said McBride. “We came into their house to play them at their place and do it on their turf. Not many teams would do that, and it just shows the mindset that this group has.”

Wakeland specifically and the Frisco ISD schools generally have been an albatross for the Mustangs over the years, despite the success of the Grapevine girls soccer program. The Wolverines defeated the Mustangs in state semis last year and in 2021 and 2025 and won state title games against Grapevine in 2018 and 2022.

Frisco Centennial defeated Grapevine in the 2016 championship game. The Mustangs hope to bring home their second state title (first in 2023) in their fifth trip to a championship game.

“My freshman year I was on the JV, so I didn’t really have the opportunity to go to Georgetown with the state finalists,” said Bereuter. “This feels so good, especially after getting knocked out by these guys last year. It doesn’t ever feel better than beating an undefeated team.”

This story was originally published April 3, 2026 at 7:46 PM.