June 24, 2010
BATON ROUGE, La. - Texas A&M freshman Rachel Lenz's Lonestar '91 soccer team erupted when they were crowned the US Youth Soccer Region III Champions at the BREC Burbank Soccer Complex Wednesday.
The Under-19 Lonestars `91 Red defeated the Dallas Texans '91, 2-1, with all three goals coming in the final 25 minutes. The Texans scored first in the 65th minute before the Lonestars evened the game with five minutes to play. In dramatic fashion, Lenz's team scored the game-winner with a minute left in the match.
"It was our team's fourth or fifth time to play in the region championship and we always seemed to get to certain point and just didn't win," explained Lenz. "This was our first time to make the finals and we played one of our big rivals (Dallas Texans). After they scored, we had that feeling that we'd come back and win, and we were never panicked. I don't think our team has ever celebrated a goal that much!
Lenz and the Lonestar '91 took home their first region championship and at the same time punched their ticket to the US Youth Soccer National Championships July 20-25 in Overland Park, Kan., at the Overland Park Soccer Complex.
The Lonestars began their journey alongside more than 10,000 teams at the US Youth Soccer State Championships. State champions advanced to the one of four US Youth Soccer Regional Championships, where 926 teams competed.
The 2010 US Youth Soccer National Championship Series is the country's most prestigious national youth soccer tournament. The event provides over 185,000 players from US Youth Soccer's 55 state associations, the opportunity to showcase their soccer skills against the best competition in the nation while emphasizing teamwork, discipline and fair play. The Series is known as the ultimate destination for the country's collegiate soccer coaches and the future of soccer.