Celina High School Bobcats girls soccer team dallas express They won their third straight 4A state championship earlier this week and were named Team of the Week.
The Bobcats defeated Berne High School 1-0 in a hard-fought defensive battle, securing their third straight championship and joining Plano West (1999-2002) as the only girls soccer programs in state history to win three consecutive state championships. .
“It was great to see this actually happen,” head coach Alexander Adams said. dallas express. “At the beginning of the season, we performed like a team that was reloading. Everyone was learning everyone's nuances, how everyone played, and we took bumps and bruises.” As things started to progress a little bit, I started to realize that we were really starting to cook. Heck, even during the preseason, when we were playing teams that were tougher on our schedule, we were okay. And I thought, “The pieces are here.'' We have to start developing chemistry. ”
Grapevine High School, the 2023 5A state champion, was the only team to beat the Bobcats this season. Prosper-Walnut Grove and Frisco-Panther Creek tied early in the season, but Celina has to develop chemistry and change from the offense-oriented offense of the past few seasons to a defense-driven approach in 2023. Despite this, they continued to assert their superiority.
The Bobcats won many games by at least five goals, outscoring their six playoff opponents 21-2.
“We knew we needed to diversify our offense,” Adams explained. “As the season progressed, we weren't scoring as many goals as we would have liked. “This year is going to be a different kind of year than before, we have to defend well and make sure we take advantage of our chances. I thought, “It won't happen.”
“We got really good at our set-pieces and that helped spark the attack a little bit. We had a strong defense and we knew everyone was going to have a hard time scoring against us. ” he added.
In the championship game, junior Grace Pritchard took advantage of a late play to score the only goal of the game with a header that beat the Boerne goalie.
“At halftime I was, no joke, dreaming of scoring a headed goal,” Pritchard told the Dallas Morning News. “I thought, 'I'm going to score this header.'” Riley [Stifflemire] Hit the ball, Brooklyn. [Babb] It hit her in the head and I thought this was my chance. ”
Adams knew a state championship would eventually be possible when he took over in 2021, but he never imagined winning three titles in his first three years.
“I definitely thought I had a chance to have a really good year because of the pedigree that was here,” he said. dallas express. “The program has always been very good, almost from year one, and being inheriting a team that just made it to the state semifinals, we knew they were going to be good and we knew we had a chance. “Go out and win state while I'm here.'' ”
“But it's kind of unrealistic to have those expectations every year so far,” Adams continued. “We have a solid staff and we go into this job intending to do our best every year, but so far our best performance has been being the last one standing.” 3 years. “
The Bobcats enter the offseason with a unique opportunity to become the first program to win four consecutive championships. Only four seniors will be leaving this year's team, and they will continue to play at the 4A level next season.
This week's final 5 team winners:
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texas rangers
Texas A&M Basketball
Texas A&M Baseball
texas basketball
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