Girl's Soccer

The heart of the Lady Dragons’ defense this season, sweeper Lani Huntley played on varsity since her freshman year. She’s seen past Carroll soccer teams come close but fail to get over the hump during that time and knows there was a difference this time around.

“I believe this is our strongest defense,” said Huntley, whose team went 24-4-4 and posted 24 shutouts this season (three for 0-0 ties) on its way to the 5A state championship, a 2-1 victory over Plano East on April 12. “It’s different than a lot of years.

“We have a lot of trust in the defense as a team,” she said. “We have a lot of pride in what we do and we work together well.”

The Lady Dragons gave up a total of 11 goals this season.

In the playoff opener, Carroll shut out 2005 state champion Marcus in regulation before winning 2-1 in two overtimes. The Lady Dragons shut out their next five opponents by an 8-0 margin, including a 3-0 victory over San Antonio MacArthur in the state semifinal contest on April 10. Junior midfielder Monica Alvarado scored twice in the game, her fourth and fifth goals of the playoffs, while junior defender Lexis Learmonth scored the other goal.

Against Plano East in the state final, Carroll once again looked dominant.

“We talked about playing on the inside shoulder of their defenders and trying to cut out those entry passes and make them play in over the top and let Lani do some work back there,” Lady Dragons coach Matt Colvin said about the game plan against Plano East. “It worked out for the majority of the game. ... Overall, we did a good job of cutting off those entry passes.”

Though it’s been the effort of the entire defensive unit, Huntley has spearheaded the . While most casual observers don’t know defensive players, even opposing fans were calling out Huntley’s name in hopes of distracting her during the playoffs.

“Lani stands out in the game,” Colvin said. “She’s the backbone of our defense.

“She was on a mission,” he said. “You could see it in her eyes that there was nothing that was going to keep her from getting [to state].”

Huntley said she learned a lot about leadership from previous teammates she played alongside in years past. Former defensive players taught her lessons early on. She applied those principles as one of four captains on this year’s team.

“It’s taught me to take a lot of accountability for the team, because we’re the last line of defense. It’s toughened me up.”

That idea of accountability was taken to heart by Huntley and the rest of the defensive unit this year. They called themselves ‘The Brick Wall.’ Some defenders played key roles offensively in playoff games as well. Learmonth not only scored in the state semifinal, but kicked the winning goal in a shootout against Hebron in the regional final that sent the Lady Dragons to state.

Defender Leslie Shurtleff scored Carroll’s two goals in the state title game and was named the MVP. .

In goal, former forward Caitlin Schneider became a solid keeper who posted 21 of her team’s 24 shutouts this season. She even stayed focused when Plano East put together a last-second scoring opportunity that came out of nowhere, dramatically diving and saving a shot in front of the goal as time expired and Carroll won the game, 2-1.

“Even after [Plano East] scored that first goal, no one’s head went down,” Schneider said.

Colvin said that the Lady Dragons’ state title was not only for the players on the field, but also represented all the hard work put in by past teams that have waited to see this day become reality.

“We have not just a tight team this year, but we have girls that still keep contact with the team from the 2005 and 2006 group,” he said. “This is just as much for them as it is for all of these kids.

“We have traditions from 1995 that these girls still do,” he said.