About a week ago, the Oak Ridge girls soccer team did something that a soccer team has never done before at Oak Ridge High School. They tied state power, The Woodlands, 0-0.

Now, you’re thinking we here at Oak Ridge Now have had a problem in the past with the Smallville type thinking that existed in this area when Oak Ridge entered the ranks of 5A. We believe, like you do now that we should go into every contest thinking we can win.

The “Oh, we weren’t supposed to win but we kind of made it close so it’s all good” mentality is a thing of the past now and is only good for when you are trying to make yourself regurgitate.

Well, I am making an exception. Our awesome friends at Woodlands Online had it right when their headline read, ”Oak Ridge shocks The Woodlands”. Coach Dina Graves of The Woodlands is a friend of mine and I’ve been following her team for years. They are an excellent team and have been for her entire tenure at the big school. They don’t just have a few good players, every single one of their players is awesome and they play on the best select soccer teams this area has to offer. Not only that, but those girls go 100% of every minute of every game. I’m not saying every team over there plays like this because it depends on the coach. Rest assured both of their soccer teams do.

Coach Graves had some nice things to say about the Oak Ridge girls soccer program. “Hey, I am good with our tie. We took 27 shots to their 1 and it is not that we played bad, they just implemented their game plan to a tee!!

“I respect Coach Collins very much, he is a knowledgeable coach that does his homework and you could not ask for a more dedicated person to the girls soccer program at Oak Ridge. We have sat at games that we were both scouting talking x’s and o’s and also discussing our programs and the ups and downs of coaching in general. The truth is that we both “love” our jobs and our players and just want them to perform and execute our game plans.

“I told my girls that we can not walk out with our heads down because they had their backs against the wall and needed to “not” lose as they were trying to get into the playoffs. We on the other hand were working to put ourselves into a position to try and get a share of the district title with our next show down with Kingwood. But, like I told the girls, everything happens for a reason and tonight Oak Ridge needed that outcome more than we needed a victory!!”

The Oak Ridge girls have talent but they are not nearly to the level of The Woodlands. Coach Collins and the girls are working towards getting to that level but they have a ways to go. I’m not being rude, just honest. For these girls to hold this statewide power to zero goals was a monumental feat!

So, what has to go on for something like this to happen? It has something to do with what went on at the 1980 Winter Olympics when our college hockey players beat the best hockey team (The Soviets) ever assembled …These girls played with hearts the size of soccer balls … They believed in Coach Collins’ system and they executed. Both of these items have to go together for success on any kind of team.

It really was going on for Oak Ridge that night. We’re going to let the ever-enthusiastic Coach Collins have his say because, well, he deserves it:

“It has been a longtime since any soccer team at this school has tied The Woodlands or achieved any kind of result, so we are very fired up about getting this result against them. The Woodlands had the better of play but Katherine Tesno was a star in goal and really turned a lot of heads with her performance. She had at least eight very nice saves and was the sole reason we were able to stay in the game the first half.

In the second half, we changed our formation from a 3-5-2 to a 3-6-1 and really limited the dangerous shots that they had against us. Jade Sorensen was our lone forward up top but did a nice job of countering and putting some pressure on the Woodlands D. She almost won the game for us with a free kick in the last ten minutes, but The Woodlands keeper got a hand on the shot that was headed.

Lauren Gelormini was fantastic in the back playing defense. Nadine Berns suffered a broken nose during the game but yet stayed to root her team on before going to the hospital. She played a very tough game in the middle for us. Kamri Brown, Claire Schuman and Sherridan Vincent also played great for us. Dari Edens had the assignment of “man marking” their best player ( best forward in District ) during the game and she kept her from scoring.

Because of this result if we beat Lufkin Friday night we have a shot at the post season. It was Katherine’s second straight shut out. She shut down Atascocita 1-0 in the previous game and has established herself as one of the best keepers in the area.”

We blew some games we should have won early but we are really coming together right now behind the play of Katherine Tesno.”

Since this great effort last week, the girls were defeated by Lufkin, 2-0 to dim their playoff hopes. However, nothing can take away from the effort this team put together against a mammoth like The Woodlands.

This complete effort by the Lady War Eagles proves a few things … It doesn’t matter what people think will happen in any particular game … It doesn’t matter what the stat sheet reads before any particular game … It doesn’t matter who plays for what select team or who is going where to play in college … All that matters is that you go all out every second of every game you play. If athletes do this, when they look in the mirror after a contest, they will like what they see.

I think it’s safe to say these Lady War Eagles like what they see.

Comments to Doug Sarant at doug@oakridgenow.com.