Solar, FC Dallas win Dallas Cup Championships

FRISCO, Texas - Going into the Dallas Cup finals on Friday, the billing was a battle for Texas. After the first two rounds, the clubs were even on the scorecard. FC Dallas won the U15 Girls Dallas Cup Championship over Solar. Solar SC won the U16 Girls Dallas Cup Championship over FC Dallas. The bragging rights between the two clubs will have to wait for the next showdown. In the U15 game, it felt like the Christmas season because there was Holly everywhere. FC Dallas forward [player_tooltip player_id="26783" first="Holly" last="Storer"] kept up her hot streak with all three goals in the 3-0 victory. She scored twice in the first half and then still had enough gas in the tank for another one late in the second half. FC Dallas coach Matt Grubb said they limited Storer’s minutes earlier in the tournament with the plan to keep her fresh for the final. It played out perfectly for FC Dallas. “She was in the middle of high school playoffs until last weekend so we didn’t know how she was going to be coming into it so we managed her minutes at the beginning of the week,” Grubb said. “Obviously you saw she had plenty of energy today. She scored some big-time goals. She is a phenomenal player.” Defensively FC Dallas was outstanding. Individually they frustrated Solar by staying in front of the player and not diving in on tackles. Collectively, they were compact and organized on the expansive Toyota Stadium field. FC Dallas’ tireless work-rate throughout all the players helped the squad comfortably see out the result against the local rival and one of the top teams in the country. “Obviously, playing here in our home stadium and be able to defend a crown in front of those guys, it means a lot to the club, every coach, and each individual player,” Grubb said. “I think sometimes teams or players get overlooked because there are great teams nearby or in their league. But hey, we’re great too!” FC Dallas U15 has the trophy to prove it too. In the U16 championship, Solar struck early on a goal from [player_tooltip player_id="26573" first="Brooklyn" last="Miller"]. [player_tooltip player_id="26502" first="Audrey" last="Bryant"] started the play with a quick throw-in to [player_tooltip player_id="33384" first="Ana" last="Sofia Cedeno"]. The midfielder dribbled away from pressure and then cut the ball back to Bryant, who hit a perfect cross to the top of the 18-yard box. Miller lost her mark and hit a one-time volley that was an unstoppable perfectly placed shot. FC Dallas had the majority of the ball and chances after the goal. They just could not get past [player_tooltip player_id="27111" first="Morgan" last="Paley"]. The goalkeeper finished the event with only one goal conceded from the five games including back-to-back shutouts in the semifinal and final. The Solar team put in a whole-game effort to preserve the shutout and claim the back-to-back championship. This title, arguably, was more unexpected than last year when the team played up an age group. Solar SC U16 was nearly half of the roster due to youth national team camps (Amalia Villarreal and [player_tooltip player_id="26668" first="Emeri" last="Adames"]), injuries, and the high school state semifinal (which was held on the same day). With so many players unavailable, the depth of the roster was tested on Friday. They rose to the occasion and made their coach Sal Adames very proud. “I was super proud,” Adames said. “I know we are a deep team. They really showed it today. I had to piece some things together without our normal players but everyone of them stepped up. We were expected to do well but I wasn’t expecting to do this well this year just because of all the injuries and the girls we were missing. We did it again.” With so much of the roster unavailable, Adames shift the approach of the team compared to how they normally play. “We were going to be more defensive than we normally are,” Adames said when asked about the mentality going into Friday’s final. “But if you watch us any other day we go all out with attack, attack, attack. We have some of the most creative, skillful attacking players in the country. We were missing a lot of those today because of the injuries, national team, high school playoffs. We came in more defensive minded because FC Dallas is a very good team. They were dangerous in the attack. We picked out moments to go forward and scored an unbelievable goal.” Miller Time delivered the goal and Solar U16 completed the back-to-back title defense.