Special Edition - April 2015

Coppell High School 185 Parkway Blvd Coppell TX 75019

Cowgirls move into elite group of

state champions

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COPPELL COWGIRLS MAK FAVORITE MEMORY My favorite memory was the dog pile after the Plano West game. I played one of my best games and being able to step up but also share this moment with my team was amazing.

SOMETHING YOU WILL MISS I am going to miss the funny stories and being able to see my teammates every day, and having that family bond.

FAVORITE MEMORY Before the Southlake game and we all had this really deep talk in the morning and it kind of just set the table. Everyone was really emotional and we just came together as a team and connected on a deeper level.

SOMETHING YOU WILL MISS I’m going to miss Stricker the most. He has been very influential and inspiring to me as a coach, and just as a mentor in general.

FAVORITE MEMORY Just traveling with the team and bonding, they are all so great. I loved getting to know them.

SOMETHING YOU WILL MISS I got really close with the seniors, I’m going to miss them a lot and miss playing with them. And of course Stricker.

FAVORITE MEMORY My favorite moment was beating Plano West in a shootout. We fought hard and stuck together and ended up getting through two overtimes.

SOMETHING YOU WILL MISS I will miss our team chemistry and the seniors next year. We all had so much fun together all year. So many sassy personalities and most of the seniors and I grew up together.

FAVORITE MEMORY My favorite moment was when we were in Midland and we missed prom so we had our own little prom.

SOMETHING YOU WILL MISS I will miss the bond. Everyone on the team, all the freshman, sophomores and juniors that I have been with forever but will not see again.

FAVORITE MEMORY My favorite moment from this year was when we played Southlake and won 2-1. I scored that game and it was really fun.

SOMETHING YOU WILL MISS I’m going to miss the chemistry because the seniors really had great chemistry . They took control and influenced everyone and always had our backs, so I’m definitely going to miss that.

00 0 5 6 9 10 13 16 21 22 26 27 RACHEL JOHNSON

KRISTEN RACZ

TYLER RUNNELS

MADELINE GUDERIAN

SARAH KING

TORI TEFFETELLER

KELLY ROHE

CAMIlle STUDEBAKER

LIAT EVEN

Kate kaiser

TARA VISHNESKY

EMMA JETT

FAVORITE MEMORY My favorite moment was the Plano West game. It was a crazy, intense game. Playing really well as a unit, and then ending on a great performance on penalty kicks made it a very rewarding win.

SOMETHING YOU WILL MISS We as a team will really miss all the seniors, since we had great team chemistry with them. I will miss hanging out with this group of girls.

FAVORITE MEMORY I would say the most memorable moment was beating Plano West in the shootout it was really exciting and they were really hard team so it was really rewarding.

SOMETHING YOU WILL MISS I going to miss really being a part of a team and having girls that are people that have my back and are people I am always around.

FAVORITE MEMORY On the field before a game we shared our hearts with each other, some of us cried, we just expressed how much we cared for each other.

SOMETHING YOU WILL MISS I’ll miss all the relationships I’ve made and the bond we all have. When you’re on a soccer team, it’s a different type of bond, they’re your sisters.

FAVORITE MEMORY Beating Southlake [Carroll] to win regionals.

SOMETHING YOU WILL MISS The comradery that we have between the team itselfs and the seniors. We will have most of the team back next year but it will be different and not quite the same. We will always have the memories we made.

FAVORITE MEMORY The whole trip down to regionals. The bus ride down there I knew it was going to be one of the best weekends together out of all four years we were together SOMETHING YOU WILL MISS I will miss our team times, whenever we would go to Georgetown or Midland all of us getting together in meeting rooms or having dance parties.

FAVORITE MEMORY My favorite moment from this year was when we won against Plano West. It was in PKs so it was really intense and I had to take the first PK. SOMETHING YOU WILL MISS Obviously I’m going to miss the seniors. They added so much to the team, and the fact that Stricker is retiring, it’s never going to be the same again and I’m definitely going to miss him.

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KE MEMORIES FOR MILES FAVORITE MEMORY My favorite moments were the Plano West game where we won in penalty kicks and beating Southlake 3-0 in the Regional Finals. Both are really high intense games and were really fun coming out on top.

SOMETHING YOU WILL MISS I will miss the seniors the most, just because they added so much to this team and we had great chemistry with them.

FAVORITE MEMORY I would have to say the second round against Plano West when we won in [penalty kicks].

SOMETHING YOU WILL MISS I am going to miss the seniors a lot, they were really fun to be around and made the team a better environment.

FAVORITE MEMORY Beating Southlake [Carroll] in the regional final.

SOMETHING YOU WILL MISS We’ve really bonded over this year and I’m going to miss the sisterhood with the seniors when they leave.

FAVORITE MEMORY My favorite moment was beating Plano West, they were the hardest team during playoffs. After beating them we knew that we could win state.

SOMETHING YOU WILL MISS I am going to miss being with everyone. We are one big family and it has been so fun seeing everyone every day, playing with them and getting to know them.

FAVORITE MEMORY When Sarah King punched a girl in the face against the California team SOMETHING YOU WILL MISS I am going to miss the seniors on the team the most

FAVORITE MEMORY As a team [the Plano West game] really brought us together, especially going into overtime and winning in PKs. SOMETHING YOU WILL MISS I’m definitely going to miss the unity. A lot of people have said that our team is a lot different this year just because we do act like such a team and we really do love each other.

1 3 7 8 11 12 18 20 23 25 30 31 MADDIE WEBER

ERIAN BROWN

MADDIE DICKSON

rachel koury

MCKENZIE MCFARLAND

SARAH HOUCHIN

ITALIA BRADLEY

GRACE VOWELL

CHRISTINA LIU

SYDNEY ANDREWS

ASHLEIGH LITTLE

SHAY JOHNSON

FAVORITE MEMORY My favorite moment was the Southlake game 3-0 in the Regional Finals. It was a huge game and a great win.

SOMETHING YOU WILL MISS I’m definitely going to miss the seniors since they added so much to the team. Us underclassmen developed a great relationship with them so they will be missed.

FAVORITE MEMORY Probably one of my favorite memories is when we beat Plano West, because we got scored on really early and that as kind of a bummer, but we came back and tied it up.

SOMETHING YOU WILL MISS I will probably miss my teammates the most, they make everything so much fun.

FAVORITE MEMORY Morning before the Southlake [Carroll] game we had really good team time and just shared our love for each other. We realized how committed we were to going to State and how much we wanted it.

SOMETHING YOU WILL MISS Since I’m in International Baccalaurete, I’m not really exposed to the other people in the school so soccer was my outlet to meet new people.

FAVORITE MEMORY My favorite moment was the journey to state. Especially the trip to Midland was a good experience.

SOMETHING YOU WILL MISS I am going to miss the seniors the most.

FAVORITE MEMORY My favorite moment was the Plano West game when I scored a penalty kick and we had won the game.

SOMETHING YOU WILL MISS I am probably going to miss just having fun and being able to joke around since we were all so close this year.

FAVORITE MEMORY My favorite moment from this season would be when we beat Plano West in the playoffs because it was really intense and the hardest game we’ve played all season, and when we won we all dog piled on top of each other which was just so much fun.

SOMETHING YOU WILL MISS I’m going to miss the team’s sense of community and the desire to bond with each other even more.

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BI-DISTRICT

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Cowgirls journey through 2015 playoffs

9-0 Duncanville

The Sidekick // Mallorie Munoz

2-1 Plano West

Arlington Martin The Sidekick // Sarah VanderPol

Against Arlington Martin, senior Sarah King and sophomore Tori Teffeteller each had a goal to propel the Cowgirls through the Class 6A Region 1 semifinals. Both goals were set up by precision passes, and those two goals stood tall as Coppell won 2-0 and are set to face up against rival Southlake Carroll in the regional finals for a chance to go to state.

In a overpowering match against rival Carroll, the Cowgirls, lead by senior goalie Rachel Johnson, clicked their ticket to state playoffs. A 3-0 win, and Johnson’s third playoff shutout, proved more than enough that Coppell earned their spot Carroll into the 6A state semifinals against a San Antonio Reagan team with only two losses The Sidekick // Sarah VanderPol on the season.

The Sidekick // Sarah VanderPol

REGIONAL QTR FINALS

2-0

2-1 McKinney Boyd

The Sidekick // Sarah VanderPol

The Sidekick // Amanda Hair

Every shot now was important, every shot was nervewracking and every shot was made for the Cowgirls as they beat the Wolves 2-1 in penalty shootouts. Coppell, after going into shootouts tied 1-1, made all four penalty kicks to Plano West’s one to advance into the regional quarterfinals of class 6A girls state playoffs.

“A big wave of relief came upon me,” Ashleigh Little said. “I was so happy that we were moving on and I’m so excited we’re advancing because we worked so hard for this and deserve every minute of it.”

The ball came flying in, ricocheting off the crossbar and into the huddle of players near the goal. Luckily for the Cowgirls, freshman forward Mackenzie McFarland saw it first and took the best shot at it.

The ball propelled into the back of the net and gave the Cowgirls the 1-0 lead, in a 2-1 Coppell win over McKinney Boyd in the Class 6A Region 1 quarterfinals.

“They have a great defense, but tonight and throughout the season we’ve had a great defense as well,” Stricker said. “We changed [Boyd’s] game and kept them on their heels.

I’m glad we took care of business in the first half, but I also thought we played strong in the end. The defense did great tonight. [Sophomore] Sarah Houchin is our lockdown player back there, and virtually each player on the defensive side does a great job.”

3-0

3-0 Highland Park

1-0 San Antonio Reagan

With only 46 seconds left, sophomore center back Sarah Houchin scored the one and only goal of the Class 6A state semifinal game against San Antonio Reagan resulting in yet another win for the Coppell Cowgirls, moving them on to the state championship where they will face Highland Park.

“The mark of a good team is resilience and whether you can stick with it and work hard so I think that we really did well in that respect. I don’t think it was our best game finishing wise, but we created a lot of chances and we won,” The Sidekick // Sarah VanderPol Stricker said. “Soccer is not always a fair game. You have The Sidekick // Sarah VanderPol to stick with what you’re doing well and get after it.”

The Sidekick // Sarah VanderPol

STATE FINALS

Southlake

STATE SEMIFINALS

REGIONAL FINALS

REGIONAL SEMIFINALS

AREA

Stories by Allie Arnold, Alex Nicoll and Marcus Krum

Sarah King, who completed the hat trick only 13 minutes into the second half, scored her fourth goal of the night just five minutes later, and she was not even at her peak performance level physically. The Cowgirls ended up winning 9-0 at Cravens Field in Arlington and advance to the area round of playoffs.

“The success came from a lot of good teamwork,” King said. “We worked really well together this game, just putting together passes and working as a whole, and that just led to our success.”

When the clock ran to zero, some of the Cowgirl’s faces fell into their hands, while others ran to pile on top of the nearest teammates they could find. The emotions were running high for the girls as they were declared official state champions.

“It says it all in our T-shirts this season,” Coppell head coach Chris Stricker said. “‘Heart before hype’ was the first one we got, and our second T-shirt was ‘C.A.L.I’ standing for character, accountability, love and integrity. Our third Tshirt, which set the tone for our road to state, was ‘a moment of pain is worth a lifetime of glory’. That’s been the ride this whole time. These girls understand it and they get it and it got them a state championship.”

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Going out in style Stricker’s teams display great chemistry

A

ALEX NICOLL Editor-in-Chief @NicollMac

lmost immediately after the final seconds of the state championship and after all the elation had begun to subside, Coppell girls soccer coach Chris Stricker told all of the girls to meet him back in the locker room.

“We were kind of confused because we don’t usually do that,” sophomore center back Sarah Houchin said.

What the girls didn’t know was that the ecstasy of their Class 6A state championship win was about to be dampened by the news Stricker was about to revel.

The two-time state championship winning coach announced he is retiring from coaching.

It was safe to say that the proclamation was unexpected.

“There were a lot of tears,” Houchin said. “Especially from seniors and people that had played for him for two or three years already.

“I was really shocked. None of us really saw it coming, we didn’t hear anything about it. I was sad at first but then I understood because he justified his point. He really wants to be there for his family.”

After 18 years of coaching, Stricker is hanging up his whistle for his family. With recent deaths in his family this year, it taught him a valuable listen and was the impetus for his shocking decision.

“It really hit me hard that time is something you can’t get back,” Stricker said. “I’m gone a lot and I’m tired a lot and I want to make sure that I’m maximizing the time I can spend with them and to make sure I am a present father and a great husband.

“I have eight years left with my kids and I want them to go through middle school and high school with a dad that’s present and a dad that’s there, so they would never question whether I loved them more than I loved coaching.The timing is just right to be with my family, and that’s hard for people to understand. But I don’t want to be that coach that looks back and realizes I never got to spend time with my kids. My kids know that I love them and I just want to make sure they know that they’re cared about and I want my wife to feel like she’s taken care of and be a strong leader for her too.”

His wife, Amanda Stricker, admits she would have to get accustomed to life without Coppell Cowgirls soccer. They have been married for 20 years with 18 of those years shared with the Cowgirls.

“It’s been a big part of our lives,” Mrs. Stricker said.

Even during his announcement in the locker room, his family was with him including two of his children who witnessed all the emotion that was felt in that room that day.

“It was really cool to see their dad stand up and

“

put his family first,” Mrs. Stricker said.

Although Stricker’s announcement for retirement might seem spontaneous, in reality his decision had already been set in motion. A month and a half before the state championship match, Stricker already approached CHS Principal Mike Jasso about retiring.

From then on it was just a waiting game in the sense that he would tell his players after the last match of the season.

Each time the team won a playoff match, Stricker mentioned it became difficult but it was the championship match that made him do something that he had never done before.

“I have never cried in a pregame speech before and I had not told the girls before hand but I knew that this was my last game,” Stricker said. “I broke down before the game and I tried to emphasize that they could do this.”

There were a few reasons for his announcing this early.

He wanted to avoid any rumors from starting up about if he would stay or move on from Coppell. It was also an opportunity for him to tell his friends and family in one place.

It also allowed Coppell ISD Athletics Director Joe McBride to open up the position for applicants. The earlier the job is open the better quality of candidates you get, according to Stricker.

“This is a program I have been building for the past 18 years, so it’s important to me that it stays top notch and competitive and a top 10 program in the state,” Stricker said.

“My kids play with legos, so its like this great house I’ve built and I want it to be taken care of so it’s important to me that they hire a great person to keep it going.”

This won’t be the last Coppell sees of Stricker though. He still plans to teach chemistry at CHS but will have to resign from his coaching and current teaching position and then be re-hired.

He may even return to coaching in the future when his kids grow up.

“I can always go back. [When my kids are] too old to want to hang out with me anymore, then I’m happy to go back into coaching and get after it,” Stricker said.

In the meantime, players, fans and colleagues like CHS boys soccer coach Chad Rakestraw will miss him and his personality on the field.

“He’s a trip,” Rakestraw said with a laugh. “He is pretty comical and he cracks us up when the time is needed. He lightens up situations.”

For Stricker, there was no better way to go out.

“Winning a state championship, they join the one percent club,” Stricker said. “Only one percent of the population is a state champion in anything.

“I’m at peace with it though its hard because [soccer] is the only thing I’ve ever done.”

I broke down before the game and I tried to emphasize that they could do Chris Stricker this

The Sidekick // Sarah VanderPol

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The Sidekick // Chelsea Banks

, t r a e

H F

ALLIE ARNOLD Student Life Editor @_alliearnold

or years, coaches and players have tried to create the perfect formula for a championship winning program. For Coppell head girls soccer coach Chris Stricker and the 2009 and 2015 Coppell girls soccer state champion teams, they discovered there was no formula.

There was only drive, passion and raw talent.

Conflict among players is not uncommon within sports. Working to achieve a goal involves all parts working in synchronized, cohesive fashion but a lot of times this causes tension between girls for a multitude of reasons. However, both state championship winning teams surprised Stricker with the close bond every player

, e v i dr seemed to share both on and off the

field.

“Both teams knew that chemistry was going to be one of the biggest things,” Stricker said.

“They were all very close and that has not always been the case.

We’ve had some years where there have been some cliques.

There have almost always been some girls who have resented each other for whatever reason, but that was not the case for these two teams. They fell in line and decided what they wanted out of the season and what they were going to do to make it happen.”

The players on both teams wanted to play not only to achieve the goals that they were dreaming of but to help their teammates achieve what they wanted as well which resulted in harder and more passionate play.

“When you care about the person next to you, you play for the person next to you,” 2015 senior midfielder Cami Studebaker said. “If you don’t care about the person next to you then you really don’t care about anything. So

: t n e at l

when you’re off the field and you have a love and respect for everyone on your team, that reflects on how you play on the field. When the person next to you is someone you want to win for, you will win for them.”

A major factor driving both teams to work for a state championship was the experience of failure from previous years and the craving for redemption.

“The 2009 team was a rebuilding season,” Stricker said. “In 2008, we graduated about six or seven seniors with incredible talent. They were probably the most talented team I’d ever coached, but unfortunately they lost in a shootout in the regional quarterfinals, which was a heartbreaker.

So when the 2009 team came in, they bought in, they worked hard and said ‘we want to be at the same level as the ‘08 team, and we want to win it all this year’.”

However, finding the confidence in their ability was a weakness for many of the players at the beginning of the 2009 season that took a lot of hard work to overcome, especially for those that were freshmen on the team.

“In the beginning, we all had our doubts about how far we could really go,” 2012 Coppell

m i a l sc m ea les t t en 9 tit r e f Dif , 200 that 5 m a d e 1 a positive im20 pact. It wasn’t like put-

High School graduate and University of Texas forward Lindsey Meyer said.

“We knew that we had lost a lot of great players and we would definitely need to step it up if we wanted to be successful, but we also knew that we still had a lot of really great talent left. We worked hard to be the best team we could be.”

For the 2015 team, it was the 1-0 crushing loss to Southlake Carroll in in the regional semifinals last year that focused their eyes on a state championship.

“I will never forget that loss,” 2015 senior forward Sarah King said. “It was like a blow to the gut because we all thought we would actually go all the way.

None of us wanted to experience that feeling again, so we worked incredibly hard to make sure we wouldn’t have to.”

Both teams possessed the heart, drive and talent it took to win a state championship. However, as far as the depth of the players both on the field and on the bench, the 2015 team is considered more skilled all around.

“We allowed eight goals this entire season which is pretty significant, and that’s mostly because no matter who we put in the game, they added something different,” Stricker said. “When we subbed in centermid, it changed the dynamic of the game because they brought something

ting in a player and trying not to lose it, whereas in 2009, if we lost a starter due to injury or something like that, it was like trying to piece the Titanic back together.”

Both teams had their share of leaders on and off the field, but 2015 had an experienced core of eight seniors as well as up and coming underclassmen to build the team on. Though the 2009 team had great chemistry, they lacked a huge presence of senior leadership due to the fact that the majority of the team were underclassmen.

“The seniors this year made a huge impact on the team overall,” Stricker said. “If there was an underclassman grumbling at practice, there would always be a senior girl there saying ‘Hey we got this, let’s go’. And that makes all the difference, because when you see a senior doing a tough workout without complaining, as an underclassman, you’re going to do the same thing.”

Despite the few differences in the teams, the 2015 team saw the 2009 team as a huge inspiration and something to work towards this season.

“Watching those players and seeing where they all ended up playing in college made a lot of us that much more determined to win it,” King said. “I’ve always thought they were so cool and talented, so to watch them accomplish state made me want to go out there and be like them and do what they did.”

MVP

SARAH KING

Four-year ride ends in championship for King

by Marcus Krum, staff writer, @marcuskrum

Q: How much does it mean to you and your team to finish your senior season with the state title and the tournament MVP? A: Going to state and winning state is the goal, so obviously it means a whole lot to everybody, especially the seniors just because it’s our last year and [head coach Chris] Stricker is retiring this year, which we didn’t know, but it’s really nice to go all the way your senior year. We know that we did the best we could and accomplish all that we could.

Q: How did Coach Stricker and his attitude towards the game and towards the team affect the success of the team?

A: He had a huge impact. He kept us focused the whole year and kept us on track. He taught us a lot about soccer, but he also taught us a lot about being a good person, trusting your teammates, having a good attitude towards stuff.

Q: Looking forward, what do you think the outlook is for this team in the next few years?

A: I’m not really sure. Obviously we are getting a new coach, and I’m not really sure who that’s going to be. Obviously we have a lot of returning players that are really good. Hopefully for the future, the team can stay focused and maybe accomplish what we accomplished this year in the coming years.

Q: Since the last state championship [in 2009], how much was that year and that state championship a motivation for you to win it yourselves?

A: Looking back at that team, they had so many good players. The players on this team looked up to the players on that team. For us, it was like “Oh my gosh, we want to do that, we can be that, let’s go to state.”

Q: The last few playoff games before the state championship game were tough. How do you think that adversity helped prepare you for the state championship?

A: Every time we would beat a good team, or every time we would advance, we would be like “OK, we can do this.” It was just more motivation, more fuel to the fire. It made us all believe more that we could go to state. Once we got to regionals and beat Southlake [Carroll] 3-0, we were like “OK let’s just do this, let’s finish it out.”

Q: At what point during or before the season did you guys realize that this team is special, that it is different than the last few years?

A: After we lost in the playoffs last year, I think was the point for a lot of people that we were like “OK this team is going to be really really good next year. We can actually do this, let’s just get prepared for next year.” I think that’s when a lot of us realized when we lost to Southlake last year that it was motivation for next year, and I think that’s when a lot of us realized we could win state.”

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