By EJ Holland
It was another successful season for Southlake Carroll'sbrsoccer programs.
Both the boys and girls made waves during the regular seasonbrand advanced to the second round of the state playoffs before bowing outbrvaliantly against tough opponents.
Head coaches Matt Colvin (girls) and Greg Oglesby (boys)brhave built state powerhouses expected to make deep postseason runs year in andbryear out. And the two said they were extremely proud of their teams thisbrseason.
While their chase for state titles might have been stoppedbrsooner than expected, the two squads exemplified Dragon pride throughout thebryear.
On the girls side, the 2015-16 season will be remembered forbrits record-shattering performances both from a team and individual standpoint.brSouthlake Carroll finished the year 23-2 and dominated for the majority of thebrseason.
“We had quite a bit of success throughout the season,”brColvin says. “We broke many team records and individual records. Unfortunately,brwe fell short in a shootout in our last game. But overall, it was a great yearbrfor us.”
After reaching the state final two years ago and advancingbrto the regional final last season, expectations were, as always, sky high forbrthe Dragons. And Colvin admitted that he thought this team had the potential tobrwin it all.
“We had a senior class that had a taste of success,” he says.br“Their goal was to not only make it to the state tournament but come awaybrwinning. All we can ask as coaches is that they are committed. We had a youngbrteam so our goal was to make sure our seniors made sure our young players werebrall in.”
The team certainly bought in early on.
Southlake Carroll made a statement to open the season as itbrtook home top honors at the National Elite Prep Showcase with wins over TylerbrLee, Bishop Lynch, Monteverde Academy (Florida) and Santa Margarita (California).
The Dragons won all four games by a combined score of 16-0. Theybrplayed flawless soccer and proved themselves against the country's best—SantabrMargarita was nationally ranked and Montverde Academy was named nationalbrchampion in 2015.
The Dragon onslaught continued in the Allison HornbrTournament as it took down Keller Central, Denton Guyer and Arlington Martin—bybra combined score of 15-2— before suffering its first loss of the season tobrKeller in the championship game.
The Dragons would not lose another game until the playoffs.brThey wrapped up their non-district schedule by winning the Governor's Cup afterbrtaking down Round Rock, Humble Atascocita and Katy Taylor by an average scorebrof 3-1.
Overall, Southlake Carroll finished its non-district slatebrwith a 10-1 record and outscored its opponents by an average score of 4-0.
“We tried our best to play a difficult schedule,” Colvin says.br“We played some really difficult opponents. We even played a team out ofbrCalifornia. We also played the defending national champions out of Florida. Webrwanted to test ourselves and see how we were going to fare against toughbropponents.
“I think we realized early in the season that we had a groupbrthat could do some really special things.”
As hard as it is to imagine, Southlake Carroll grew strongerbrduring district play and ran through 7-6A with an undefeated record—somethingbrnot even the great teams of the last two years were able to accomplish.
The Dragons scored an eye-popping 88 goals during districtbrplay—an average of seven per game—while allowing just five goals total.
“I think it gets overlooked in our community at times,”brColvin says. “It's kind of expected. But there are hundreds of teams in ourbrregion vying for district championships. We were one of not many that were ablebrto win one. And to go undefeated in the district is an even biggerbrachievement.”
Southlake Carroll played perhaps its best game of the seasonbras it took down South Grand Prairie, 10-0, in the first round of the playoffs.brUnfortunately for the Dragons, their season came to an end in heartbreakingbrfashion the following week to Flower Mound Marcus.
After allowing a goal four minutes into the game, thebrDragons battled back to take a 2-1 lead. But Southlake Carroll gave up a goalbrwith nine minutes remaining and ultimately lost on penalty kicks.
Still, enough can't be said about the Dragons and theirbrspecial year. Ally Griffin set a school record with 49 goals scored, whilebrAllie Luna set the program record for assists in a season with 39. Grace Corybrbecame the all-time leader in Dragon history with 221 points and tied thebrschool record for most game-winning goals with 26.
The Dragons also featured one of the state's biggestbrbreakout players in freshman goalkeeper Madison Martin, who recorded 15brshutouts, which ranked fifth all-time in a season.
“We were able to throw a lot of numbers going forward intobrthe attack,” Colvin says. “We had multiple options. Our frontrunners werebrreally dynamic. We had experience in the midfield. We were able to put pressurebron teams and defend them all.”
The boys' route to the second round of the playoffs was abrbit more of a bumpy ride.
Southlake Carroll was inconsistent out of the gate due tobryouth and inexperience, shuffled through five different goalkeepers and enduredbrsome tough losses and ties but found a way to finish with a 16-5-4 record andbrreach the postseason.
“The team got stronger and better as the season went on,”brOglesby says. “I thought we had an impressive ending to the season. Our goal isbralways to win a district championship and get to the regional tournament, butbrwe knew we had a very young team and inexperience at goal.”
The Dragons opened the season with a loss to ArlingtonbrMartin but won its next three games. After recording ties in three of itsbrfollowing four games, Southlake Carroll closed out its non-district slate withbrthree wins in a row.
But the streak didn't last. Southlake Carroll fell tobrCoppell in the district opener, 6-0. After going 3-2-1 over its next half dozenbrgames, a spark came on as the Dragons won six games in a row, including a 2-0brwin over Midlothian in the first round of the playoffs.
During that span, the Dragons were led by the electric duobrof Calvin Heard and Nat Kajiwara. The two combined for 39 goals on the season andbrhelped the Dragons outscore their opponents, 23-7, during the run.
“It's a testament to the kids because they kept working andbrthey kept training,” Oglesby says. “They started to comprehend what we wantedbrdone. They just started to play better as a team. We got to a point where Ibrfelt like we were really dangerous offensively. I thought we had significantbrimprovement from last year.”
Southlake Carroll's season came to an end the next week in abrgut-wrenching 2-1 loss to Plano East in the second round of the playoffs.
“Last year, we lost on penalty kicks,” Oglesby says. “Thisbryear, we had 18 shots on goal, and we outplayed them. I couldn't ask the kidsbrto do more than they did. We just need to work hard and get a better bounce ofbrthe ball next season.”
With a number of key starters coming back for both the boysbrand girls soccer teams, the Dragons should be a force to reckon with on thebrpitch next year.