Texas Tech University Athletics
Red Raiders Win US Youth Soccer National Championships
July 27, 2010 | Women's Soccer
July 27, 2010
Conner Williams
Hayley Haagsma
LUBBOCK, Texas - After a very successful summer, Texas Tech head soccer coach Tom Stone can be excited about what the future holds. Seven of Stone's student-athletes captured the U19 and U18 national championships at the US Youth Soccer National Championships last weekend in Overland Park, Kan.
Five of Tech's student-athletes, Erin Wikelius, Jessica Fuston, Conner Williams, Morgan Johnson and Haley Fowler, won the U19 title as part of Lonestar '91 out of Austin - one of the top soccer clubs in Texas and a favorite recruiting ground for Stone. Two incoming freshmen, Hayley Haagsma and Gabby Kaufman were members of Laguna Hills Eclipse, the U18 national champions from California.
"Winning a national championship at this level is something very special for these girls and it is something they will carry with them for the rest of their lives," said Stone. "These seven players have accomplished something very few players will ever have the opportunity to do. As we all know, winning like this is contagious so we are excited for them to bring this experience to their Red Raider squad and help lead us to championships here in the future as well. Our staff is very proud of this group of girls and they have represented Texas Tech extremely well on the national soccer stage."
Lonestar defeated Eclipse Select, a team out of Chicago, in penalty kicks. The match was tied, 1-1, at the end of regulation with Fuston scoring the only goal for Lonestar. Lonestar went on to win the title 4-2 in penalty kicks. Wikelius was the winning goalkeeper, saving one of the penalty kicks in the shootout win.
"It was so awesome to win," Fuston said. "It was probably the biggest game of my life, so far, because I haven't really experienced college play yet. After we won it was unbelievable. We couldn't believe we were the best under-19 team in the nation. It was great playing with my Tech teammates as it prepared us for the upcoming season and hopefully we will bring more championships to Texas Tech."
In the U18 championship match, Laguna Hills Eclipse defeated the defending national champions, the Eclipse Select out of Chicago, 1-0. Laguna Hills came out strong to start the match and it appeared to have scored a goal in the ninth minute, but it was called off for interference with the goalkeeper. Laguna Hills got on the scoreboard in the 26th minute and hung on to win the crown 1-0. Haagsma won the Golden Ball for as the tournament's Most Valuable Player. The win gave another Tech goalkeeper the victory as Kaufman led the defensive effort in the nets for Laguna Hills.
"The experience was unreal and we had never been in a game that big before," said Haagsma. "This whole year was a year of firsts - first state win, first regional win, and getting that far was just `wow, we've come this far we just need to go all the way and win'. After we won everyone was crying tears of joy because we were the underdog. I was completely surprised to win the MVP. It was a very humbling experience for me."
The Red Raiders will now turn their focus to the upcoming season as they report to camp on Aug. 3.
