High school girls' soccer playoff season is here, and one team on the pitch Tuesday night is already making history. In it's inaugural season, the soccer team at the Young Women's Leadership Academy in the Fort Worth ISD is in the playoffs.
"Everyone is ready and excited just to be there," said soccer coach Maria Ortiz. "Everyone has underestimated us. So I think it'll be a fun game."
Reaching the post-season is incredible when you consider where the team started.
Most everyone on the team is a rookie. Only three girls had ever played soccer. The coach is a Spanish teacher drafted to lead the team when no one else stepped up. The team has no home field and was often spotted running plays in a parking lot next to the school downtown.
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"And then, sports equipment things like game balls. The coach from Young Men's (Young Men's Leadership Academy) donated three soccer balls, three game balls," Ortiz said.
Despite the challenges, the coach says the girls are ready to kick their way to a first-round win.
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"The girls are determined and I told them soccer is about being smart and you already are smart. So we just need to know how to play the game," Ortiz said. "They have great chemistry together, they get along. I mean, it's just great to be part of this team."
The YWLA Lady Owls face the Decatur Lady Eagles on Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Byron Nelson High School in Trophy Club.
"I told them, you know, be the best player that you can be so that together we can make a good team, and I think they've done that," said Ortiz. "If I see the possibility of winning, that's when, when my competitiveness comes out and I'm like, we can do this, we can do this," she smiled.
No matter what happens, the team can be proud that it went from the parking lot to the playoffs in its first season.
