Westlake girls soccer team's 'revenge tour' has it back at UIL state tournament
A change in tactics, an easy source of motivation and being doubted by online prognosticators is a combination that has landed the Westlake girls soccer team back in the UIL state tournament.
Oh, and having good players doesn’t hurt, either.
Westlake (16-4-2) will face Rockwall (21-3-2) Friday morning in a Class 6A state semifinal at Birkelbach Field in Georgetown. The Chaparrals are making their second trip to state in three years.
While it’s a bit strange to say the Chaps were an afterthought coming into this season with as much success as the program has had and the amount of talent it perennially produces, that was the case after they missed the playoffs out of a loaded District 26-6A a year ago.
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With head coach Darci Carruthers dubbing this season the “revenge tour,” the Chaps spent the first month jelling, then clicked in early February. They lost just once in their final 10 regular-season games before going through a gantlet of playoff opponents to get to state.
“After last year, we kind of had the mentality of having to prove our school and prove success,” senior winger Margaret Barton said. “It’s something that motivated us. We don’t like to lose, and we don’t want to seem weak, so we want to keep showing that we’re Westlake and that football is not our only sport.”
Making a big change paid big dividends
Though motivation might have been easy for the Chaps, a change in strategy also provided a spark on the field. With Westlake deep in attacking personnel, Carruthers decided the team should play with five midfielders instead of four to give the Chaps a focus on possession and more options on offense.
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It’s something that’s paid off with Westlake generally being able to dictate play, but it’s also an individual emphasis of playing a pressing defense everywhere on the field that has created offense from defense.
“We like to have the ball, so everyone is really aggressive and tries to win the ball back when we don’t have it,” junior forward Carter Utkov said. “No one passes off responsibility to other people behind them, and each person takes it upon themselves to try and get the ball back.”
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Part of that tenacity defensively comes from the fact that the Chaps all appreciate one another as players and people, which feeds into having strong chemistry on the field.
“It means a lot that the whole team just clicks, and we all want to work hard and work for each other,” junior midfielder AJ Carlson said. “Everybody has each other’s backs.”
Westlake has been here before
Carlson and Kate Grannis were key figures on the state tournament team two years ago, with several other players being varsity reserves or on the playoff roster for the team’s run. It has also driven the upperclassmen to return to Georgetown.
“It’s been helpful in feeding that energy of wanting to go back after experiencing that amazing environment,” Grannis said.
Carruthers has also played off the fact that soccer websites and social media accounts have consistently picked against the Chaps for the past two months. She said Westlake is once again an underdog going into the state tournament, and she wouldn’t have it any other way.
“Keep picking against us,” she said. “We weren’t supposed to win four of our five playoff games, according to most people, and now we’re at state. So keep doubting us.”
UIL state soccer tournament
Through Saturday, Georgetown ISD Athletic Complex. Tickets: $35 all-tournament, $15 single game
Wednesday: Class 4A girls semifinals — Celina 3, Lumberton 1; Boerne 2, Salado 1 (OT); Class 4A boys semifinals — Boerne 1, Kilgore 0; San Elizario 1, Navasota 0
Thursday: Class 5A girls semifinals — Colleyville Heritage 4, Hendrickson 1; Frisco Wakeland 0, Rouse 0 (4-2); Class 4A girls final — Celina vs. Boerne, late; Class 5A boys semifinals — Glenn vs. Frisco Wakeland, late; Midlothian vs. Baytown Goose Creek Memorial, late
Friday: Class 6A girls semifinals — Rockwall vs. Westlake, 9:30 a.m.; Prosper vs. Katy Seven Lakes, noon; Class 4A boys final — Boerne vs. San Elizario, 2:30 p.m.; Class 6A boys semifinals — Katy Seven Lakes vs. Duncanville, 5 p.m.; Vandegrift vs. Lewisville Flower Mound, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday's finals — Class 5A girls: Colleyville Heritage vs. Frisco Wakeland, 11 a.m.; Class 5A boys, 1:30 p.m.; Class 6A girls, 4 p.m.; Class 6A boys, 6:30 p.m.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Westlake's 'revenge tour' has it back at UIL state soccer tournament
