By Allie Arnold
Student Life Editor
@_alliearnold
There were two minutes left in the Texas Class 6A state championship girls soccer game with the Cowgirls up 3-0 against Highland Park when senior fan Lauren Mack yelled to her best friend, senior forward Sarah King, “You’re a state champion, Sarah King! You know that? You’re a state champion!”
Trying to remain focused on the game, King did not acknowledge Mack’s comment and kept her eyes on the field in front of her. However, she could not help but crack a little smile as those words sunk in. She was a state champion.
The championship game was held in Georgetown this afternoon at 4 p.m. With the sun beating through the clouds on a spring day, fans braved the heat and the sweat that came along with it to cheer on their very own nationally ranked Coppell Cowgirls.
The game began with a frustrating start for the Cowgirls as two goals from King and sophomore forward Sarah Houchin were called offsides. The team then looked to King who made it clear that the little mistakes could not continue. Once that was established, the team made smarter and more carefully executed plays on offense. King made a header in the goal ten minutes later making the score 1-0.
In the 14th minute of the first half, King took advantage of a breakaway, looking up to see junior forward Emma Jett breaking to the right. After an impressive pass from King, Jett took the ball and scored, making the score 2-0 with the Cowgirls advancing in their lead.
The minutes seemed to drag on from there as the Cowgirls could not seem to land the ball in the goal until well into the second half. Even with a great job from the offense by keeping the ball up the field, the multiple opportunities presented were not executed well enough from the Cowgirls to break past Highland Park’s defense.
However, with just four minutes left in the game, senior forward Tara Vishnesky made a fast break to the goal and shot high above Highland Park’s goalie. The ball deflected off the goalkeeper’s fingertips and landed in the bottom right corner of the net.
“That’s pretty much when I knew,” Jett said. “Being up 3-0 with only a few minutes left is a great position to be in.”
When the clock ran to zero, some of the Cowgirl’s faces fell into their hands, while others ran to pile on top of the nearest teammates they could find. The emotions were running high for the girls as they were declared official state champions.
“It says it all in our T-shirts this season,” Coppell head coach Chris Stricker said. “‘Heart before hype’ was the first one we got, and our second T-shirt was ‘C.A.L.I’ standing for character, accountability, love and integrity. Our third T-shirt, which set the tone for our road to state, was ‘a moment of pain is worth a lifetime of glory’. That’s been the ride this whole time. These girls understand it and they get it and it got them a state championship.”
After the girls received their trophy, they were lined up on the sidelines for the announcement of Sarah King as Most Valuable Player of the championship game.
“I’m still processing all of it,” King said. “It’s a lot to take in. Winning MVP is such a huge honor, but I feel like the whole team deserves it. Every single one of us worked so hard. It’s been an amazing season to say the least.”
