GA Playoffs Texas Team Preview: HTX 11

<p>After almost ten months of action, the Girls Academy League season is entering its final stretch, with only the best teams from each conference still alive in the battle to win the national title.</p>   <p>A critical moment of the season will unfold from June 18-23, in Norco, California, where the league playoffs will be held. 36 teams will compete in the U15, U16, and U17 age groups, with eight advancing to the League Finals, which will be held in Richmond, Virginia, from July 9-12. The U19 age group has only 12 teams in contention and will have the national champions crowned in Norco.</p>   <p>Six teams from Texas qualified to compete in the playoffs and will be in action in California over the next few days. In the days leading up to the event, we'll preview them:</p>   <h2 class="wp-block-heading">HTX 11</h2>   <p>The team from Houston had solid results in the Frontier Conference and qualified as the second-best team in the Division. HTX played 17 matches and secured 13 wins, three losses and one tie, accumulating 40 points.</p>   <p><strong>Their Opponents</strong></p>   <p>HTX were allocated into Group F for the GA Playoffs. They will play New Jersey's STA, Wisconsin's Madison 56ers and Arizona's SC Del Sol as their first opponents in California.</p>   <p><strong>Their Squad</strong></p>   <p>[player_tooltip player_id='295098' first='Olivia' last='Devaux'] is the team's goalkeeper. The backline has Sanaa Narasimhan, Clarke Daniels, Gabriella Prange, Adelle Winston and [player_tooltip player_id='338309' first='Emma' last='Winn'] as some of the options. The midfield positions are taken by Gemma Camarillo, Alisha Goswami, Kyndall Moring, Reese Stewart, Preslee Farrar, [player_tooltip player_id='295170' first='Anya' last='Felczak'] and [player_tooltip player_id='338310' first='Bella' last='Zaccardo']. Leading their offense up top are [player_tooltip player_id='295171' first='Milena' last='Felczak'], Camilla Wenske, McKinsley Sanders, Norah Sehgal and Caroline Synnott.</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/DV1VTYaEQdS/?img_index=1 </div></figure>   <p><strong>Players to Watch</strong></p>    <p class="text-gray-700">Devaux is HTX's goalkeeper. She's been a part of the USYNT for a couple of years now and was recently with the U15 team in the Netherlands, where she was one of the standouts. Combining great size and excellent technical skills, she is an elite shot-stopper who makes the most of her positioning and has impressive athleticism to go with it. Devaux is very reliable in the air, showing great command of the penalty box. The goalkeeper is a vocal leader for her team, constantly communicating with her backline, and has excellent feet, which allow her to connect long passes with ease.</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/DYzQttlkRJs/?img_index=1 </div></figure>    <p class="text-gray-700">Winn plays as a center back for HTX. She's very good in 1v1 duels, having the physical tools and the firmness to dominate opponents inside and outside the box. Winn's most impressive skill as a defensive player is, however, her remarkable spatial awareness, which gives her the ability to always be in the right spot and avoid passes from being played behind her back. She's very comfortable on the ball, too, and does a good job of keeping the ball under pressure and distributing it out of the back.</p>     <p class="text-gray-700">Farrar plays as an attacking midfielder for HTX. Very dynamic on the ball, she's often their main playmaker and is very good at leading their offensive efforts with intelligent moves. Her excellent movement off the ball consistently puts Farrar in great spots to make plays, and she knows what to do in possession, making the right choices and serving as a catalyst for her team's offense. The midfielder has excellent vision to deliver passes in the final third and also thrives at beating opponents off the dribble. Farrar doesn't limit herself to setting up plays, as she consistently shows up in the box to finish them as well.</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=9eCmX4iZqkM </div></figure>   <p></p>

After almost ten months of action, the Girls Academy League season is entering its final stretch, with only the best teams from each conference still alive in the battle to win the national title.