FRISCO, Texas - The FC Dallas Girls Academy U-15 team won the Dallas Cup Girls' Invitational Friday morning with a 3-0 win over Solar Soccer Club at Toyota Stadium. Forward Holly Storer was the hero of the day, scoring all three goals to hand FC Dallas the trophy.
"Credit to the girls who stay disciplined and committed to the cause and how we play," said Matt Grub, director of the FCD Girls Academy and U-15s head coach. "And so I think this was just a culmination of that, that commitment and that focus and that urgency to do what we do. We stayed true to ourselves, and that's the biggest thing."
Storer found the opener for Dallas in the ninth minute when Charli Harris’ cross evaded Solar’s backline and fell kindly for her to poke home from close range. The duo combined again to double Dallas’ lead six minutes later when Harris found Storer in the box and she cut back to beat her defender before placing it into the side netting.
Solar had a chance five minutes before halftime when Sealey Strawn ran down the right wing and sent in a dangerous cross that was well handled by Dallas ‘keeper Aviana Gutierrez.
Strawn tried her luck again just after the break with a left-footed effort that flew just over the crossbar. Solar had its first shot on target in the 47th minute when Jordyn Hardeman went for goal with a free kick from an acute angle.
Dallas responded with a chance of their own when Ahnali Quinn took a shot from outside the box but Solar goalkeeper Kate Jackson was able to gather it. Storer continued to be a thorn in Solar’s side when she beat her defender on the right wing and crossed for Isabelle Traub whose shot was blocked out for a corner. Dallas withstood some increased pressure over the final few minutes but was able to close the game out with a clean sheet.
"As a whole we work and the sum of the parts was greater than the individual today," Grubb said. "And you saw some great individual performances on the other side. But our collective team effort, everybody gave everything they had through the course of the week. Every single player contributed major minutes to get us here."
Solar Soccer Club had its revenge in the following game as its U-16 team defeated FC Dallas 1-0 to win the U-16 Girls Dallas Cup title thanks to a first-half goal from Brooklyn Miller. FC Dallas will have another chance to claim a second Dallas Cup title when its U-19 Girls Academy face DKSC in their final at 3PM today, April 15 at Toyota Stadium.
