2015.
The last time the Coppell girls soccer team won a state championship.
2024.
Thirty-five seconds remain in overtime and a last minute goal by then Prosper senior defender Beya Rosales ends the Cowgirls season in the bi-district round of playoffs.
2025.
The Cowgirls overcome a six-year playoff drought and advance to area. Ranked No. 2 in Texas, they have another shot at a state championship.
With a historic season extended to another round, the Cowgirls have been feeling nerves but also excitement at the chance to achieve greatness.
“We knew nerves and fear would be a thing, but for us, we wanted to control the fear,” Coppell coach Craig Able said. “We wanted to remind ourselves of the joy that is playing. We wanted to remind ourselves why we play. We play because we love playing soccer, we play because we love representing our school and we play because we love each other.”
With the joy of playing and representing the school, expectations can be hard and fulfilling them can be harder. With the loss of quality seniors as the new season began, underclassmen finding momentum can be challenging.
“This season has been a whirlwind,” junior forward Neerali Kapadia said. “Losing a few seniors and then losing against Prosper with 30 seconds left fueled us.”
With the loss last year in overtime, the Cowgirls came out this season determined, not losing until their 15th match and only losing twice this year out of 23 regular season games.
“Once the season is over then it is historic,” Able said.
The turnaround for the season came when the team defeated Hebron in their season opener.
It continued to win until they faced Hebron again, losing, 1-0, marking its first loss in the season. Then, domination ensued until facing Flower Mound Marcus for the district championship. The Cowgirls lost, 3-2, and out of the first place in District 5-6A.
In the playoffs, the Cowgirls ran through the bi-district round defeating Plano East, 4-1. However, the regional quarterfinals against Lake Highlands posed a different challenge. A match that went into overtime, and they were on the right side of the goal, scoring with less than five minutes to go.
“These two playoff games will show us the perseverance that we have and the ability that we have to push past what we thought our boundaries were,” senior midfielder Summer Chen said. “No matter what the ups and downs are, we’re going to push over.”
Being state champions twice, in 2009 and 2015, the Cowgirls are trying to reciprocate that success this season.
“The goal is to win state,” Kapadia said. “It is definitely something that we can accomplish and we are going to go after it.”
With it being a senior season for a big part of the team, many of them are trying to finish their highschool career with a ring.
“This is the best group of girls that I have ever played with,” Chen said. “I want to go out with a bang, and we have the team to do so.”
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