As important and popular as the showcase weekends are to teams and fans alike, the ECNL has started to schedule games apart from those dates as it transitions to a truer league format.

This past Saturday and Sunday, several clubs were trying to climb their way to the top of their table in such matches. Two teams that had a great weekend were Texas sides U16 Challenge SC and U18 Lonestar SC.

“Going into the weekend our goal was to get two wins, especially against teams we’ve played and are familiar with,” Challenge SC Head Coach Hadyn Sloan-Seale said. “The most difficult games to win are the ones where you know the opponent very well.”

Challenge SC faced Solar SC in Saturday’s encounter, beating the Dallas-based team with a 3-1 margin.

Natalia Miroballi, and Piper Repogle both scored alongside Kaleigh Olmsted, who buried a left-footed volley off a corner kick.

The girls took that confidence into the following day’s match against D’Feeters, who had previously beaten the squad very comfortably in Regional League play. Challenge found retribution this time with a 1-0 win.
 
Olmsted once again found herself on the scoring sheet. A diagonal pass by Joanna Robertson left Omsted 1v1 against Solar’s goalkeeper, who then sacrificed her body to slot the ball past the keeper for the game-winner.

“Kaleigh is our starting center forward and she makes great runs off the ball. She had a good weekend.” Sloan-Seale said.

Even with the two wins, Challenge is still in the middle of the Flight Challenge ‘A’ table and knows its fate to progress up lies with how other teams do.

“In the first seven games we didn’t get the results we wanted, and had lost some games we thought we should have gotten better results in. That’s the league," Sloan-Seale said.

Now the team will take the lessons of this weekend into their next matches, which will be at the March ECNL Event in San Antonio.

“This weekend we showed a lot of character, played hard and fought hard. It’s a combination that has been lacking a little bit,” Sloan-Seale said. “We’ll take that moving forward into the next event which will be a challenge.”

Lonsestar SC had similar results but in much more dominating fashion, shutting out D’Feeters on Saturday, 2-0, and clobbering Solar SC with a 7-0 performance the following day.

Texas-bound Allison Smith had three goals over the weekend, one against D’Feeters, and a brace against Solar. Emma Jones added the second goal on Saturday.

Five different players scored for Lonestar on Sunday. Aside from Smith’s two goals, Stephanie Segovia added a pair. Bianca Brinson, and Christie Hinojosa also found the back of the net. And Erin Imman tallied a pair of assists to go along with her lone goal.

Lonestar currently sits in fourth place of the U18 Flight Challenge ‘A’ table and will have an opportunity to make up some ground in March. They face second-place Ohio Premier Eagles and two other teams.

The ECNL National Event, taking place March 4-6, will have over 30 clubs convene in San Antonio, Texas. The event will have three full days of matches comprised from the U15-U18 age groups.

Below are the rest of the weekend’s ECNL scores:

Saturday, Feb 12

Under 15
Lonestar SC 1-1 D'Feeters Soccer Club
Challenge SC vs Solar Soccer Club
CESA Premier 1-1 CASL

Under 16
Lonestar SC 1-1 D'Feeters Soccer Club
Challenge SC 3-1 Solar Soccer Club
CESA Premier 0-2 CASL

Under 17
Lonestar SC 1-2 D'Feeters Soccer Club
Challenge SC 2-0 Solar Soccer Club
CESA Premier 2-2 CASL

Under 18
CESA Premier vs CASL
Lonestar SC 2-0 D'Feeters Soccer Club
Challenge SC 3-1 Solar Soccer Club

Sunday, Feb 13

Under 15
Lonestar SC 3-0 Solar Soccer Club
Challenge SC 0-1 D'Feeters Soccer Club
Freestate Soccer Alliance 0-0 FC Virginia

Under 16
Lonestar SC 3-1 Solar Soccer Club
Challenge SC 1-0 D'Feeters Soccer Club
Freestate Soccer Alliance 2-1 FC Virginia

Under 17
Lonestar SC 1-0 Solar Soccer Club
Challenge SC 0-0 D'Feeters Soccer Club
Freestate Soccer Alliance 1-2 FC Virginia

Under 18
Lonestar SC 7-0 Solar Soccer Club
Challenge SC 1-3 D'Feeters Soccer Club