ECNL Girls Texas Conference U16: Three Center Backs to Watch

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The highly competitive ECNL club league kicked off its 2024-2025 season on the weekend of August 24-25, with the first Conference matches taking place around the country and setting the floor for what's going to be ten intense months of soccer.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Texas Conference has been one of the strongest in the league in the last few years and will continue to be this season as some of the most talented players in the nation represent clubs from the region. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Prep Soccer Texas will be following the action weekly and providing coverage in text, photo and social media posts, giving the talented prospects from the Lone Star State some well-deserved recognition and exposure. We start our coverage featuring some players to watch in the upcoming season. This week, we'll dive deep into the talented U16 age group, and these are some of the most reliable center backs you'll see in action:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:acf/evaluation-block {"name":"acf/evaluation-block","data":{"player_evaluations_0_player":["112582"],"_player_evaluations_0_player":"field_62ab9d62ecf2c","player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"","_player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"override-player-profile-image","player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"","_player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"field_62aba48cecf2d","player_evaluations":1,"_player_evaluations":"field_62aba7547dc44"},"mode":"preview","alignText":"left","anchor":"acf-block-66d9ff74e6162"} --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"placeholder":"Add evaluation here...","className":"text-gray-700"} --> <p class="text-gray-700">Morrow is one of the defensive rocks in her FC Dallas ECNL 09 team. She forms a strong center back duo with [player_tooltip player_id='112585' first='Gray' last='Rideaux'] and there isn't really anything she can't do at a high level defensively. Morrow is physically strong enough to dominate opposing attackers inside the penalty box, but also has the mobility and the intelligence to defend well in transition and higher up in the field. She's also very skilled with the ball, being capable of connecting long passes out of the back and also getting more involved and quarterbacking her team's offense from a deeper position.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- /wp:acf/evaluation-block --> <!-- wp:image {"id":149778,"sizeSlug":"large","linkDestination":"none"} --> <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://prepsoccer.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2023/10/IMG_2754.jpg?w=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-149778" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Challenge SC ECNL G09 vs. FC Dallas ECNL G09</figcaption></figure> <!-- /wp:image --> <!-- wp:acf/evaluation-block {"name":"acf/evaluation-block","data":{"player_evaluations_0_player":["112590"],"_player_evaluations_0_player":"field_62ab9d62ecf2c","player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"","_player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"override-player-profile-image","player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"","_player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"field_62aba48cecf2d","player_evaluations":1,"_player_evaluations":"field_62aba7547dc44"},"mode":"preview","alignText":"left","anchor":"acf-block-66db65b5c6bbd"} --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"placeholder":"Add evaluation here...","className":"text-gray-700"} --> <p class="text-gray-700">Albin is a center back and one of the captains for the Dallas Texans ECNL 09 team. She leads the team from behind, not only vocally, buy also technically as her strong play positively impacts her teammates. Typically used more to the left, Albin is a lockdown defender, who plays as hard as anyone and seems to always be 100% focused on the job, not giving up a single inch to opposing attackers, who don't typically have a lot of success when trying to beat her. She also does very well when she has to step up and defend higher up on the field, besides being a reliable and efficient passer.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- /wp:acf/evaluation-block --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://x.com/ryleighalbin/status/1826056926415003934","type":"rich","providerNameSlug":"twitter","responsive":true} --> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://x.com/ryleighalbin/status/1826056926415003934 </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:acf/evaluation-block {"name":"acf/evaluation-block","data":{"player_evaluations_0_player":["112680"],"_player_evaluations_0_player":"field_62ab9d62ecf2c","player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"","_player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"override-player-profile-image","player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"","_player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"field_62aba48cecf2d","player_evaluations":1,"_player_evaluations":"field_62aba7547dc44"},"mode":"preview","alignText":"left","anchor":"acf-block-66db65b5c6c13"} --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"placeholder":"Add evaluation here...","className":"text-gray-700"} --> <p class="text-gray-700">Cox is one of the starting center backs for Classics Elite ECNL 09. She does an excellent job of protecting the team's penalty box and winning duels with her physicality but also thrives with her ability to read the game and benefits from her great positioning to always be ready to jump on a tackle or cover a teammate. She's very consistent with her actions and will very rarely put a foot wrong or be caught out of position. Cox also plays an important leadership role with Classics Elite, remaining vocal during matches and keeping things organized on the back for them.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- /wp:acf/evaluation-block -->