To say the inaugural season for FC Dallas Women was a success would be an understatement.
With a 15-1-0 record, a perfect regular-season record and a plus-46 goal differential, allowing just ten goals, the newly-minted WPSL side flew out of the starting gates of what will be another dominant squad in the already-deep FC Dallas organization.
Sunday afternoon, FC Dallas fell 4-3 to defending champion Chicago Red Star Reserves in the WPSL Midwest Final. The Red Stars have been the perennial power in WPSL play recently, having not lost a single game in two years.
Coming into the match, the Red Stars had only allowed one goal all season and up 3-0 in the 68th minute, it seemed the FC Dallas women’s season would come to a close, but that wouldn’t be so without a major fight.
After reeling off three goals in a matter of ten minutes, FC Dallas miraculously tied the game 3-3 before the Red Stars nabbed a winner with less than eight minutes left. Still, FC Dallas managed to score three times as many goals on the NWSL reserve squad as they had allowed all season.
The team’s offensive leader was Chestley Strother, who scored 11 goals in 12 games, a team high. Serving as a pipeline to the NWSL’s Houston Dash, six different FC Dallas players were called up to the first division team throughout the season, a clear indicator of FC Dallas’ quality talent and depth.
That depth featured seven current FC Dallas Youth players that were brought onto the team, including 15-year-old Reyna Reyes, who scored the game-winning goal against Oklahoma City FC to clinch the Southwestern Conference Championship. Reyes was the youngest player on the team to play.
After one season, Ben Waldrum’s side clearly defied expectations, winning their conference in dominant fashion and taking the league power to the brink all while nearly placing themselves in the WPSL Final Four.
And they’re just getting started.
