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Championship Crow raises bar for East
By Kevin Hageland, Staff Writer
Plano East head coach Dawn Crow can often be seen wearing a very distinctive piece of jewelry: a national championship ring.
That ring is just one in a set of four though as Crow played soccer in college for a North Carolina squad that went 97-1-1 and won a quartet of national championships.
But Crow would like nothing more than to take off her national championship ring and replace it with a Class 5A State Championship ring. Crow has vowed to her players that she will do just that if the Lady Panthers are able to win a state title.
Playing in District 9-5A, making the playoffs, let alone winning a state title, can be very difficult. This district features Plano West, the defending state champions and ranked No. 7 in the state by the Texas Association of Soccer Coaches, and Allen, which is TASCO’s preseason No. 1 team.
But even those coaches know playing East, which handed the Lady Wolves one of their two losses last season, is never easy.
“Dawn is a great coach,” said Jennifer Grubb, West head coach. “And East always works hard.”
And though the Lady Panthers will have plenty of talent this year, they lost two players before the season even began as defender Lisa Sliwinski and midfielder Lauren McGregor suffered ankle injuries.
“Lisa hurt her ankle like five minutes into our first scrimmage,” Crow said. “We hope to have them back for district, but you never know with ankle injuries.
“For now we have to focus on what we do still have, find out new things about ourselves and develop some depth.”
Those injuries, combined with the graduation of Chelsea Palmer and Jennifer Silva means developing depth will be key as East will be using a relentless offensive pace.
“I’m a firm believer in putting on lots of offensive pressure and creating havoc,” Crow said. “The longer you are away from the goal, the less likely the ball is to go in. We’ll either get some cheap goals or at least make it tougher for our opponents’ to get the ball out of their end.”
That philosophy has been on display early this season as East scored 12 goals while compiling a 3-1 record at the Dr. Pink Tournament in Frisco. Leading the way last weekend was forward Carolyn Polcari, who scored four goals.
“Carolyn likes being around the ball and setting the tempo for us,” Crow said. “And with the injuries, she has moved around to wherever will help us win.”
Forwards Casey Brettman and Ashley Ramos notched a pair of goals during the tournament as well. Brettman jumpstarted the East offense in the first game of the season, scoring twice in the Lady Panthers 5-0 victory over Frisco Liberty, and Crow is high on both players.
“Ashley has good speed and she is willing to work, which is something I think her teammates value,” she said. “Ashley is relentless with her pressure and can always cause turnovers.”
The second part of that description could also be used in regards to Courtney Garner. The player described as “The Gnat,” also had a pair of goals during the event in Frisco.
“Courtney never quits or gives up,” Crow said. “She will do whatever it takes to make sure the team wins and that has been rewarded with increased playing time.”
All that offense helped the Lady Panthers get to the silver bracket finals of the Dr. Pink Tournament last weekend, but that’s when the defense took over.
East faced Hebron in a rematch of an earlier tourney game, which the Lady Hawks won, 4-3. This game would be much lower scoring, in fact there was no scoring through regulation and the game eventually went to a shootout.
And that was East keeper Rachael Stelly’s time to shine as she stopped four of six shots to give the Lady Panthers a 3-2 victory in the shootout and a 1-0 victory overall. The shutout was Stelly’s second of the four-game tournament.
“Rachael will be as good as Rachael allows herself to be,” Crow said. “If she works hard, she will be one of the best keepers in the district.
Stelly has the unenviable task of replacing Courtney Seelhorst, who could always be counted on to post a shutout or at least keep East in any game.
“Most keepers are interesting,” Crow said. “With Rachael, she’s kind of shy and I can’t always read what she’s thinking. That can come off like she doesn’t care, but I’ve found that isn’t the case.”
Stelly’s play this season will be all the more important as East also lost Julia Slater and Kelli Barnes to graduation.
East’s three successful penalty kicks in the silver bracket championship came from Polcari, Marissa Holden and Serena Hines. Holden has spent the last two months trying to come back from an ankle injury. In addition to trying to convince Crow to take up the game “Rock Band,” Holden scored the game-winning penalty kick against the Lady Hawks.
And though Hines may be listed as a forward, she has shown versatility is one of her greatest attributes.
“Serena is at a different spot on the field almost everyday in practice,” Crow said. “We can put her in the back or she can just as easily attack up the flank. Serena has found her game and really stepped up.”
The Lady Panthers face Flower Mound, today at 1 p.m., in the opening round of the Plano Tournament of Champions and begin District 9-5A play Jan. 29 against Lake Highlands.
“Whoever wins this district deserves it, because there are so many good teams that go out there and just beat up on each other in every game,” Crow said. “But no matter what happens, this is the first time in a while I have been able to say that I enjoy coming to work every day.”
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