JEROME SOLOMON Winless winners
Fort Bend Marshall girls soccer team never gives up even though no one can recall a win
It was finally over. Tired and worn down, moving gingerly due to muscles that were strained, limping cautiously from twists and sprains, the Fort Bend Marshall girls soccer squad made its way to the sideline after a 6-2 loss.
But unlike most teams that have come up short on the scoreboard, the Lady Buffs’ spirits weren’t crushed. The players shook hands with the victors, playoff-bound Santa Fe, then gathered around coach Matt Jackson, who leapt into his final postgame speech of the season with unbridled enthusiasm.
“First of all, how about, in her very last game, Ana Guillen gets her first-ever assist?” Jackson said, pointing to the suddenly sheepish midfielder, who is the Lady Buffs’ most skilled player.
That was worthy of a celebration.
“How about, for the first time ever, two goals in one game?” Jackson continued. More celebratory cheers. “Y’all played your guts out today, girls,” Jackson said. “I’m proud of you. You laid it all out on the line.You really gave your all and you wore that Buff shirt with pride. And I couldn’t be prouder.”
They play to win the game. Any game.
But winning didn’t happen this season. Or last season. Or any season for the Marshall Lady Buffs.
The school opened in 2002, when most of the current players were in diapers, but no one involved in athletics at the school has any recollection of the girls soccer team winning a game.
Boys basketball coach Gary Nichols, who led his team to the state tournament last year, has been there from day one and he “can’t remember them winning a game.”
Maybe there was a victory at some point over the years, we don’t have any proof.
Wins, or lack thereof, and losses don’t seem to affect the Lady Buffs’ passion and desire.
“I know we didn’t win games this year, but at least we were on the scoreboard,” junior goalie Jasmine Salazar said. “In previous years, we were never there. It was always zero to something. And it was double digits.
“This year we did pretty good, and it was because of coach Jackson.” Making progress
With a roster of mostly firsttime players, girls who are learning the game and have never been on a team, Jackson knows that competing against teams filled with girls who have been playing for 10 or more years is a challenge.
At least the 20-0 defeats are history. Marshall is 0-32-2 in two seasons under Jackson, but has allowed 10 or more goals only twice.
But there were seven seniors on this year’s squad, and instead of reloading from area middle schools, as the power programs do, Jackson will recruit in-house, looking for willing players.
“We get our butts kicked a lot,” Jackson said. “We’ve come a long way, and the fact that these girls keep coming back, that they don’t play to the score, they keep going … that says something for their character.”
Jackson, a former sports radio talk show host, says not once in two seasons has he had his entire team available for a practice. Life gets in the way. There are injuries, of course, like sweeper Noemi Perez, one of the team’s better players, going down with a seasonending injury before district play began. But every now and then a player must quit because her parents decided they just didn’t want her to play.
But also, players miss practice to babysit siblings or pick up extra hours at work. Work? Yes. Meet co-captain Gisel Torres. As well as doing her darnedest to defend at the twice-aweek games, she works a fourhour evening shift at Walmart every night after practice. Then she puts in eight hours at the retailer every Saturday and Sunday. Life always intrudes
With all that, plus family obligations for the oldest of four, when does she have time for homework?
Torres, who smiled and said she joined the soccer team because she needed more friends, said soccer hasn’t gotten in the way of academics, it has been additional motivation to do better in school.
Her grades and her soccer have improved since she joined the team.
No wins, but the Lady Buffs are winners.
“We got close this year, which felt good, but most importantly at the end of the season we always had each others’ backs,” Torres said. “Even if we lose 5-0, we keep our heads up, because we have each other.”
The Lady Buffs came close this season. They were outscored 88-5 overall, but did tally a couple of points in the district race — a first — thanks to two tie games, one of which resulted in a gut-wrenching loss to Willowridge on penalty kicks.
Maybe that first win will come next year.
Though she joined the team at midseason, sophomore Kameryn James, one of the top all-around athletes in Fort Bend, quickly became the team’s leading scorer.
Salazar, a once-physical defender “known for pushing girls down,” has shown dramatic improvement since being moved to goalie and is talking about next season.
Perez should be back, as should tiny, tough-tackling freshman Jasmine Briones, who started every game.
They play to win the games. Maybe, hopefully, the next one will be the one.
When Jackson called the team together that last time, they wrapped up the season hand-on-hand in the middle of a huddle.
“Lady Buffs dominate, never quit! Whoooo!”
Go Lady Buffs.