Grapevine girls, in 6th trip to state, ‘supremely confident’ in quest for first soccer title
The Grapevine Mustangs had a rough start to the girls soccer season, when they lost three of four. But they haven’t lost since, and are two wins away their first state tittle.
Coach Steve McBride wasn’t surprised by the rough start because several key players were injured before the season began.
“Being 1-3 after the first weekend was just the first weekend,” he said. “Knowing we were going to get healthy, but more than anything that this is a long season and there’s only really 14 games that matter and those are your district games, nondistrict was not a defining moment for us.”
Grapevine (24-3-2) will play Comal Smithson Valley (27-0) at 9:30 a.m. Thursday in the 5A semifinals at the Georgetown ISD Athletic Complex. The winner will face the winner of Georgetown (25-0-4) and Frisco (22-2-2) at 11 a.m. Saturday for the state championship.
McBride and Grapevine are up for the challenge.
“We’re supremely confident in what we do and how we do it, so we’ll play anybody, anywhere, at any time.“
While their early nondistrict struggles didn’t define their season, it helped players take on new roles.
Junior Rowan Truman was one such player, when she transitioned from left back to midfielder. She flourished in the role.
“We needed her to step up and kind of carry us through some pivotal moments throughout the year and she did that,” said McBride. “She leads by example she’s one of those kids who just gets in there and gets her job done.”
Senior goalkeepers CC Cerone and Addison Williams also stepped up their play throughout the season, especially in the big moments.
Cerone and Williams came up with several key saves in Grapevines’ 4-0 regional final victory against Wichita Falls Rider. McBride raved about the duo.
“Having two goalkeepers at the caliber that Addy and CC are at gives us an advantage,” he said.
Their success in goal might be the missing piece for a Grapevine state title.
“Looking at it from the standpoint of goalkeeping and defending you’re going to win championships by keeping people off the scorecard and we haven’t been able to do that historically in the bigger games and this year it seems like we’ve turned the tide,” said McBride.
Over the past 16 seasons, the Mustangs have won 16 consecutive district titles and reached the state tournament six times.
McBride is hesitant to use the word dynasty without any state titles but believes Grapevine has been overlooked as one of the best programs in Texas.
“You see people getting writeups about schools down the street from us and across the street from us. Here we are 16 years in a row 16-time district champions.”
McBride believes this is the team that can finally capture the state title but it doesn’t, he’ll still cherish the team and its accomplishments.
Reminiscing about this year’s team, McBride got choked up talking about what it meant to be their coach.
“They’ve been a blessing to me and have made me really appreciate the position I’m in, not just as a head coach but as a person in their life.”
This story was originally published April 12, 2023 at 2:20 PM.
