• Home
  • Diocese
  • Bishop Burns
  • Columnists
  • Pope Francis
  • Revista Catolica
  • Subscribe
The Texas Catholic
The Texas Catholic

Dallas, Texas

Today is Saturday, January 16, 2021
  • Home
  • Diocese
  • Bishop Burns
  • Columnists
  • Pope Francis
  • Revista Catolica
  • Subscribe
  • Follow
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
Home
Sports
Soccer

First-year head coach keeps title streak alive

Friday, March 29, 2013

The Ursuline Academy soccer team won its 23rd consecutive state championship with a 2-0 win over Houston St. Agnes in the TAPPS Division I final March 9 at Awty International School.

By Cathy Harasta
The Texas Catholic

Allie Daus, Ursuline Academy’s first-year head soccer coach, needed a week or so for everything about the Bears’ 23rd consecutive state title to crystallize.

Ursuline defeated Houston St. Agnes, 2-0, at Awty International School in Houston for the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools’ Division I championship on March 9. The triumph continued a streak that Daus had pitched in to preserve as a player and assistant coach at Ursuline.

But her first state title as a head coach didn’t immediately make a deep impression on her.

“That day, it was just like, ‘Oh, we won,’ ” said Daus, a 2005 Ursuline graduate who played soccer for Penn State. “The next week, I realized what a great job the girls did this season to rise above all the pressures and challenges. The most overpowering feeling that I had was that I was just so happy for them.”

Daus, 26, said that she and the players didn’t dwell on the title streak, but that in retrospect, she recognized that she had felt pressure.

“It was there from Game One,” she said. “You could argue that it was there more for Game One than at mid-season.”

Senior Cami Pham said that she felt some regrets about having played her final game for Ursuline. But she said that her underclassmen teammates were “pretty lively” during the bus ride home from Houston.

Pham, who signed to play soccer at Northwestern University, said that tradition was the key to explaining the program’s state title victory streak. She conceded that it is difficult to contemplate a streak that is older than she is.

“It’s crazy,” said Pham, who scored a goal in the championship. “If I could pick a word to describe Ursuline soccer, it would be ‘tradition.’ I think it’s every senior’s job to carry on the tradition. I really wanted to leave my mark on soccer each year. Being a returning player, it’s your job to teach the under-classmen about tradition.”

Daus said that her players reversed a perception that she harbored entering the season.

“I thought that, as a player, you learn all these lessons from your coach—about life and about the game,” Daus said. “But I came to realize that the players teach me the lessons. That was the biggest surprise.”

Ursuline athletic director Mike Jensen said that Daus did an outstanding job with the program.

“She kept them focused,” he said. “We were a young team this year, with 11 of the 22 varsity players first-year letter-women.”

Jensen said that people refer to the Bears’ title streak as a soccer dynasty, but he prefers Pham’s characterization of the continuing success.

“We look at it as tradition,” he said. “We play in the shadow of the players who have played before us.”

He said that Daus deserves a lot of credit.

“To watch Allie come in her first year and do what she did was remarkable,” he said. “We’re so blessed.”

Daus said that she talked often with her predecessor, Jamie Cantrell, who retired last year.

“Even when we were coaching together, we were friends,” Daus said. “She’s my mentor. Our relationship hasn’t changed.”

Cantrell said that she occasionally suffers pangs of missing the players and staff, but that her confidence in the program never falters.

“Allie has always been such a spectacular person that I had no doubt that she would do well,” said Cantrell, who retired from coaching to focus on her young children and family life. “Any time when you remove yourself from working with wonderful people, there’s a feeling of loss. But this was Allie’s time. My time was done.”

  • Tags
  • Catholic Diocese of Dallas
  • Dallas Catholic Diocese
  • The Texas Catholic
  • Ursuline Academy
Facebook Twitter Google+ LinkedIn Pinterest
Next article Diocese shows support for ‘Men Against Abuse’ rally
Previous article Farrell: Pope’s election should inspire Catholics

Related Posts

Offering faith and fitness Diocese
Tuesday, January 12, 2021

Offering faith and fitness

'It's what we love to do' Diocese
Tuesday, January 5, 2021

'It's what we love to do'

Sharing the Good Word Diocese
Monday, December 28, 2020

Sharing the Good Word

Texas Catholic Classics

A look at the five Dallas law enforcement officers who gave their lives while protecting citizens during a mass shooting in downtown Dallas in July 2016.

 

How a child with special needs inspired a high school volleyball team, community and a family who heeded God’s call to protect life.

 

After a young runner collapsed at a Dallas marathon, grace and providence unfolded for those involved in the valiant effort to help her.

   

In the summer of 2016, 50 students and 25 chaperones from Dallas Catholic high schools traveled to Nicaragua for a 10-day mission trip.

 

Early on a November morning, Kenndrick Mendieta bounded from the gym at Cristo Rey Dallas College Prep toward the campus’ athletic fields as clouds lifted on a fresh new day.

 

Subscribe

Get the award-winning Texas Catholic delivered to your door. Use the menu below to subscribe now.


Subscription length




 

Photo Gallery

Click here to find your favorite Texas Catholic photographs.

The Texas Catholic Newspaper

Catholic Diocese of Dallas
David Sedeno, Editor

3725 Blackburn Street
Dallas, Texas 75219
(214) 379-2800

Our Affiliated Sites

Texas Catholic Youth

Revista Católica

Legal and Other

Contact us

Terms of service

Privacy policy

Site map

Site powered by TexasCatholicMedia

© 2013-2019 The Texas Catholic Publishing Company. All rights reserved.