Girls soccer: Pride conditioning for a shot at a repeat

A lot of coaches ask their athletes to go the extra mile.

Mountain Pointe girls soccer coach Mark Wilson had his team run 10 before they ever kicked a ball this season.

"I believe in conditioning and hard work," Wilson explained. "That's how we won last year."

The Pride had a 6-8-2 regular season record and were 2-4 in the Central Region last season.

But when they got to the state 5A-I championship playoffs as the 11th seed among 16 qualifiers they didn't run out of gas.

Each one of their games went into overtime and two, including the title game against Corona del Sol, were decided on penalty shots.

The Pride won the championship, 2-1, in a triple-overtime decided with a 4-2 penalty shot advantage against the Aztecs.

"I think we played more minutes in overtime by the time we got to the finals than other teams did in regulation games," Wilson said.

Players returning from that title team won't find it easier this season.

"I've already told the girls who won it last year, ‘If you think it was tough last year, this year is going to be twice as tough,' and they've taken my advice," Wilson said.

The team ran from the school near 48th Street and Knox Road to Baseline Road and 48th Street, and back again.

"Everyone finished together," Wilson said.

It would have been difficult to get the team to do that at the start of last season.

Some Pride veterans and Wilson, coaching the Pride in his first season, clashed from the start.

He has a controlled, possession philosophy while most of the returning players were used to a more direct kick type of game.

"I learned that sometimes you have to pull back and let your players give you advice and I did," Wilson said.

Then they have a meeting of the minds.

"Right before we went to the state tournament we kind of met halfway and it went together like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich," he said.

Wilson has lost four seniors from that championship team, including four-year defensive starter Kathleen McDonald as well as co-captains Courtney Lane and defensive spark plug Aubri Carmen.

"I lost my backbone on Aubri, so I'm working on getting a new backbone," Wilson added. "There will never be another Aubri, but I have a couple of girls who are close and they are underclassmen. We'll stick to the mix."

Last season Wilson made sure his freshmen and sophomores got more playing time than underclassmen usually see and they come into this season with experience.

Not many have more experience than senior goal keeper Tessa Bowie. A four-year starter, she knows how to defend the net, but gets most of the scrutiny by Wilson, who is also a goalie.

"You have to have a great goal keeper if you're going to stay in the game," Wilson said. "That's most important to me."

Last season Wilson proclaimed the Pride would win the state championship before he ever coached a game.

He's not backing down this year.

"We're going to do it again," Wilson said. "Talent-wise, I think we're better but, again, we've already proven you have to rely on that fitness."