ECNL Girls Texas Conference U17: Three Outside Backs to Watch

<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>   <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>   <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 U17 age group, now focusing on the outside backs:</p>    <p class="text-gray-700">Listed as the top defender in Texas in her age group, Mahon adds a lot to her team Solar SC ECNL 08. She has been playing right back more recently, but can also contribute as a central defender, and has a tremendous skill set to play anywhere across the backline. Mahon is incredibly athletic and has outstanding defensive instincts, knowing how to put pressure on opponents and when to go for a tackle, which makes of her a lockdown defender. Her offensive game developed a lot over the last couple of years and she's now a real asset in the attacking half as well, using her pace and ball control to get to the end line and send crosses and her vision and precision to feed teammates with through balls and help articulate plays through the middle.</p>    <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7hDW7AIgUg </div></figure>    <p class="text-gray-700">Aguirre features for Challenge SC ECNL 08 and will be of great value for them this season. She can play at either side of the backline with a high level of efficiency and has the talent to be used further up in midfield too. Aguirre is a very determined defender, who controls her zone with great efficiency and is really difficult to beat because of her intensity. She's also very skilled on the ball and can dribble it forward and help push her team to attack. Aguirre hits the ball with great precision with either foot and can be an offensive threat with her ability to shoot from distance and send dangerous crosses into the penalty box as well.</p>    <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://x.com/Kaileyaguirre08/status/1732524339575087524 </div></figure>    <p class="text-gray-700">Diaz will be in action with DKSC ECNL 08 this season. Mostly used as a right back, she thrives in 1v1 duels and gets the job done efficiently. Diaz likes to defend high up in the field and has the ability to cut passing lanes to do so in a very effective way - her impressive pace helps her recover when the ball makes it past her and also gives her the ability to cover her teammates when plays develop on the opposite side. Diaz is also smooth when in possession, playing simple but effective passes, very often one-touch passes.</p>    <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-instagram wp-block-embed-instagram"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://www.instagram.com/p/C8vMZMRMfAl/ </div></figure>

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.