Girls soccer playoffs: Frisco Wakeland chasing history; Prosper beats Marcus in shootout

Below you will find coverage of the 2024 UIL girls soccer regional finals. This post will be updated as more games become final.

To see results for other regional final girls soccer games, click here. For coverage of the boys regional tournament, click here.

Class 6A Region I

MCKINNEY — After Prosper beat defending 6A state champion Flower Mound Marcus for the 6A Region I title, senior goalkeeper Maggie Manning felt like she was going to Disney World.

Prosper earned its first invite to the state tournament in program history on Saturday afternoon at McKinney ISD Stadium. But even in her excitement over that feat, Manning felt tired.

Following 100 minutes of tough defensive play, Prosper outshot Marcus 4-2 in penalty kicks to dethrone last year’s state champs. Both teams were tied at zero after the two,10-minute overtime periods.

Manning, whose performance in Friday’s semifinal allowed Prosper to beat then-undefeated Southlake Carroll in penalty kicks, made two stops during Saturday’s shootout. Her teammates Rhiannon Mahon, Olivia Hess, Khloe Griffith and Beya Rosales each made their shots, with Rosales making the game-sealing kick.

“I’m exhausted physically and mentally,” said Manning, also stoked over the win. “Even after, it was hard for me to celebrate because I just want to sleep right now.”

Prosper (24 -2-2), which fell to McKinney Boyd in the third round of last year’s playoffs, finished third in District 5-6A this season. Nationally-ranked Prosper held Carroll, which averaged six scores a game, to one goal in regulation on Friday.

Then on Saturday, Prosper unseated a Marcus (17-7-4) team that extended its streak of consecutive playoff victories to 11 in the Class 6A Region I semifinal on Friday.

“They gave us hell,” Prosper coach Matt Dickinson said. “Those two games back-to-back, that’s so much to ask of your kids and I’m just so proud of them for fighting through that.”

Marcus’ 1-0 win over Wolfforth Frenship in the previous round was its fourth shutout in the playoffs this year and eighth dating back to its 2023 state title run. Star sophomore Madi Patterson scored Marcus’ sole goal of the game in its regional semifinal victory. Patterson suffered a knee injury two minutes before the final whistle on Friday and did not play in the game on Saturday.

She scored 27 goals this regular season, while Marcus goalkeeper Bry Russel had 10 shutouts. Marcus finished fourth in District 6-6A.

Prosper will face either Rockwall, Wylie East, Austin Westlake or the winner of the Katy Seven Lakes-Jordan match next Friday in the state semifinal at Georgetown’s Birkelbach Field. There it will vie for its first state championship in program history.

“This is the best senior year ever,” Manning said. “I could not ask for anything better.”

— Myah Taylor

Class 6A Region II

ROUND ROCK — After rising from the turf, Rockwall’s Faith Graves flexed her arms downward and let out a roar toward her teammates on the sideline. They responded in kind.

In what Graves called one of the most stressful situations of her life, the senior goalkeeper read the shooter’s eyes, she said, and delivered a diving stop early in the penalty shootout to give the Yellowjackets an opening. If they converted all their remaining kicks, they’d be Region II champions and headed to Birkelbach Field in Georgetown next week for the state tournament.

Like a year ago when the teams met in a Region II quarterfinal, Wylie East (25-2) and Rockwall (21-3-2) played to a scoreless draw after 80 minutes of regulation time on Saturday afternoon at the Kelly Reeves Athletic Complex. In 2023, Wylie East narrowly escaped with a 1-0 overtime win. This time playing in the Region II final, Rockwall capitalized on Graves’ stop, fired in its remaining penalties and pipped the Raiders, 4-2, in the shootout.

“Got our revenge this time,” Graves said. “We were hoping for this outcome. We wanted revenge, and we got it. They’re a great team, and we just got the outcome of this one.”

The Yellowjackets will return to the state tournament for a second time in program history with a brand new coaching staff that came in this year. Many players, including Graves and senior Ayla Garcia, who scored the winning penalty on Saturday, were on the first team to make the state tournament in 2022. Rockwall went on to lose to Southlake Carroll in the state final that year.

Both squads stayed tidy on defense throughout the first half and settled for trading long shots that didn’t threaten either goalkeeper. Wylie East came closest to breaking the deadlock in the second half. First, Gabriella Ponce, left unmarked inside the box, couldn’t turn her header on target with pressure from the goalkeeper coming.

Then, Bryn Geppert nearly snatched away the game for Wylie East with a free kick from more than 30 yards out in the last 15 minutes of regulation. Her almost knuckle-ball-like shot flew too high for the goalie but bounced off the outside of the crossbar and went out-of-bounds.

Juliette Rayo, Rockwall’s scorer from Friday night, had the final chance to end the scoring drought two minutes into overtime. A deep cross found her unmarked in front of the goal, but she scuffed her first-time shot wide, and the two teams entered the penalty shootout scoreless.

Both opening shooters didn’t convert. Then, Graves’ save on Wylie East’s second attempt proved crucial as Rockwall shooters poured in perfect penalties too high for Wylie East goalkeeper Maddie Jones to get to.

As Garcia stepped up to her penalty, Rockwall’s fifth and final before sudden death, she heard the announcer mention she could win the game with the kick. It added a little extra pressure, Garcia said, but she blasted home her spot-kick to clinch the state tournament berth.

— Aro Majumder

Class 5A Region I

WICHITA FALLS – Allie Love and Colleyville Heritage tamed the blustering wind in the second half, allowing Heritage to take a 3-0 victory against Wichita Falls Rider for the Class 5A Region I championship Saturday at Memorial Stadium.

The win sends undefeated Heritage (23-0-2) to the Class 5A state tournament in Georgetown next week. Meanwhile, Rider finishes the final year of its program with a 20-2-4 record. Rider High School will transition into a junior high with Wichita Falls ISD set to open two new high schools in August.

“There’s a proud history with this program, but it has been a while since we’ve been to state,” Heritage coach Monte Pace said. “I feel like we’ve been building toward this. We lost in the regional final two years ago, and we’ve continued to grow as a team since then. We’re just excited to finally get a chance to go down to Georgetown.”

The wind was a major factor in Saturday’s match, blowing out of the south at consistently more than 20 miles per hour with gusts topping 30 miles per hour.

Rider had the wind at its back in the first half but failed to take advantage of it and trailed Heritage, 1-0, at halftime after Heritage’s Olivia Belcher blasted a goal into the net from 30 yards out in the 16th minute.

“That goal was a tremendous psychological boost, knowing that we were going into halftime with a lead and the wind at our back in the second half,” Pace said. “We knew we would be in position to control the game and get some more goals.”

Heritage struggled to adjust to the wind in the second half with the ball running away from it at a speed that was hard to track. But Love finally got an opportunity from the left side of the goalie box in the 59th minute, driving the ball inside the far post for a 2-0 lead.

Ashlyn Bringedahl capped the scoring with 5:40 left in the match.

“It took us a little bit to adjust to the wind, but I told the girls to just keep playing because we were in a good position,” Pace said. “We got it together and were able to get the win.”

— Jonathan Hull

Class 5A Region II

CARROLLTON — Frisco ISD has been the preeminent school district in Texas for soccer over the past 14 years, winning 10 state titles and making 15 state tournament appearances.

Frisco Wakeland has been the driving force behind that dominance, winning eight state championships — five on the boys side and three by the girls team. That included the boys and girls teams sweeping the Class 5A state titles in 2018 and 2022.

The Wakeland girls are tied for the fourth-most state titles in UIL history, and they can add another trophy next week when they play at the state tournament for the fifth time after beating District 9-5A rival Frisco Reedy 1-0 in Saturday’s Class 5A Region II final at Standridge Stadium.

Sophomore Audrey Gilbert had the only goal, scoring with less than three minutes gone in the first half off a corner kick by sophomore Sofia Rodriguez with Wakeland going against the wind. It was Gilbert’s team-leading 21st goal of the season, and Wakeland’s spectacular defense made that goal stand up by posting its eighth shutout in the last nine games behind the goalkeeping of juniors Claire Manis and Brooklynn Freeman and a back line led by defenders Rodriguez, Ava Yocum and Anna Mayer.

“I’m excited to go to state, because we didn’t get to go last year,” Gilbert said. “I think we have the potential to win it all.”

Wakeland has outscored its five playoff opponents 17-0 while playing in a brutal region that featured seven of the 10 teams in The Dallas Morning News’ final 5A-others area rankings. Saturday was Wakeland’s 19th shutout, and it has allowed just 12 goals in 26 games.

“They are hard to score on,” Wakeland coach Jimmie Lankford said. “They will bend a little bit, and it’s still a work in progress, but you can’t fault them for the great results we’re having. We are starting three sophomores and a senior back there, and they have gotten better and better.”

There have been 12 undefeated girls state champions in UIL history, with Dallas-area teams accounting for nine of those. Wakeland (24-0-2) needs wins next Thursday and Saturday at Birkelbach Field in Georgetown to join that prestigious list and to record the first unbeaten season in program history.

It was Wakeland’s third win over Reedy (18-7-3) this season, and it avenged a shootout loss to Reedy in the third round of last year’s playoffs. After having never played in a regional tournament before last year, Reedy has now lost in the regional final in back-to-back seasons.

This was the second straight season that it was an all-Frisco ISD girls regional final after Frisco beat Reedy in a shootout in 2023 en route to a state runner-up finish. Frisco ISD now has a chance to win a soccer state title for the fourth consecutive season, with the Lone Star boys claiming the most recent championship last season.

What makes Frisco ISD such a powerhouse when it comes to soccer? Especially a team like Wakeland, whose 23-player roster features 10 sophomores and three freshmen.

“Just the commitment of the girls to the process,” Lankford said. “You’ve got to have talented players to get there, but they buy into the process and they buy into the work. We are extremely young, and they go out and play and they love to play for each other.”

Wakeland ended Reedy’s 10-game winning streak while shutting out a team that had gotten 49 goals from the trio of Zaara Jacobs, Ashley Rabinowitz and Emma Taylor through the first 27 games. Reedy had the wind at its back in the first half and outshot Wakeland 6-3. That included two great scoring chances within a two-minute span, as Reedy first blasted a shot off the crossbar and then had a goal disallowed with 24:50 left in the half.

Wakeland had three prime scoring opportunities with just under 15 minutes left in the game but was denied by Reedy junior goalkeeper Kennedy Wilkinson. She made a sliding stop on Kennedy Clark after Clark slipped behind the Reedy defense, then the ball rebounded straight to Dayleigh Bos, who put a shot just high. A minute later, Wilkinson made another diving stop to keep the score 1-0.

— Greg Riddle

Class 4A Region II

TYLER — Two-time reigning state champion Celina is heading back to the state tournament with a 1-0 win over Frisco Panther Creek in the Class 4A Region II girls soccer final Saturday afternoon at Christus Trinity Mother Frances Rose Stadium.

“It’s wonderful,” Celina head girls soccer coach Alexander Adams said. “We’ve got a young team. For them to go out and take this region was no easy task. Hands down, this region is, in my opinion, the best region of soccer. To go out and battle through the playoffs, we got everybody’s best every week. To have different girls step up every week; we’ve battled through injuries, to have kind of that next man mentality and go out and achieve getting back to state for the fourth year in a row, this one feels special.”

Celina first reached the state tournament in 2021 and won state titles in 2022 and 2023.

Panther Creek was the one creating chances early, but Celina peppered the goal for the final 30 minutes of the half and held Panther Creek to just one shot in that span. Panther Creek goalkeeper Conner Ansbro was able to send the game into halftime still tied at 0-0.

Early in the second half, after Ansbro saved a couple of shots, including one by Grace Pritchard, a penalty was called in the box, and Pritchard stepped up and made the penalty kick to give Celina a 1-0 lead with 32:21 remaining in the game.

Celina had some more chances to add insurance, and Panther Creek attempted some shots that were saved by Kaitlyn Gunderson made saves in goal as Celina recorded their second shutout in as many days and fourth shutout in the playoffs.

“I think this year is especially special,” senior defender Brookelyn Babb said. “We did lose a lot of seniors last year. These freshmen and all the girls have stepped up and that’s what made us get back to state, so I’m really proud of everyone.

“On defense, I thought we played very strong. We just had to keep our heads clear and stay with it and just stay strong back there.”

Panther Creek (17-5-1) — a second-year school and soccer program — was one win from the state tournament and will graduate four seniors.

Celina (24-2-2) will play at either 11 a.m. or 1 p.m. Wednesday in the Class 4A semifinals at Birkelbach Field in Georgetown.

— Brandon Ogden

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