Granite FC Elite wins South Texas Cup championship
Granite FC Elite, a soccer team featuring players who are under the age of 15, won the South Texas Cup championship April 9-10, which advances the squad to the South Texas Cup Finals at the end of the month.
Granite FC finished the South Texas Cup with a 3-0 record.
The players include Cali Brydon, Avrie Wallace, Ava McNamara, Ashley Ferreira, Katie Terrell, Giselle Hernandez, Madison Hardaway, Leslie Reynoso, Dolce Macias, Addie Moomaw, Chloe Ellis, Elizabeth Shonning and Hannah Welch and are coached by Ernesto Rivera and Larry Wallace. Megan Brydon is the team’s manager. Most players are in the seventh and eighth grades.
“I didn’t know the other teams, but I’m encouraged the girls played to win,” Rivera said. “You’re putting in your mentality to play as a team. You support each other. Your mentality is you’re playing a super team, you’re playing a good team, and you’re playing a great game.”
Rivera, who also was the coach of the Granite FC Cool Kicks, created Granite FC Elite to give players more opportunities to play. Many play for the Marble Falls Middle School team.
“I’m teaching them to play our own game,” he said. “That gives them more confidence. Every time we do tryouts, younger girls are showing up.”
In 2020, he started the Dragon Flies. But as more athletes wanted to play, Rivera said the choice was made to create Granite FC Elite to ensure players are getting valuable minutes to improve.
“We continued playing,” he said. “We said, ‘Let’s form another team.’ Most of the girls are in the seventh, eighth and ninth grades. After the middle school season ended last year, they got together to play club. We play fall and spring.”
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