TGCA presents plaque honoring Alford as top soccer athlete

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Texas Girls Coaches Association executive director Sam Tipton presents the TGCA Soccer Athlete of the Year plauqe to Maria Alford on behalf of her daughter, Savannah, who is already practicing at Midwestern State. || Photo by THE FLASH TODAY

By BRAD KEITH
TheFlashToday.com

STEPHENVILLE (August 14, 2017) — One would have to have a good excuse to miss her own athlete of the year presentation.

But Savannah Alford is indeed excused. Who has time, after all, to keep accepting high school awards when you’re already practicing with your college team.

Alford reported to Midwestern State University, a NCAA Division II and Lone Star Conference member in Wichita Falls, for the preseason soccer – get this – three-a-days – on August 6, and could not be back at her alma mater Monday to receive the plaque commemorating her 2017 Texas Girls Coaches Association Soccer Athlete of the Year award.

It’s the highest individual honor in the sport, at least for high school girls, and is presented to the top senior annually as selected in a vote of TGCA members. TGCA executive director and retired coach Sam Tipton was at Stephenville High School Monday, rpesenting the plaque to Savannah’s mother, Maria Alford, on her behalf.

A handful of Alford’s teammates from the school’s first state championship soccer team were also on scene, and they even used FaceTime to video chat with Alford when she had a break from the rigorous MSU practice schedule.


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Alford also took the time to interview over the phone with The Flash Today.

“It’s still unbelievable to think that our team accomplished what we did, and that I accomplished this as part of that,” said the Honeybees turned Mustang. “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it.”

She was touched by her teammates joining in on the impromptu presentation, during which Tipton explained there are roughly 31,000 high school girls playing soccer in the state each year and the plaque represented the coaches association’s belief that Alford was the very best senior player of them all.

“It means the world to me knowing that I was a role model for those girls, they’re the best,” said Alford, who didn’t know some the freshmen last December, but won the Conference 4A championship with eight of them starting alongside her on April 12 at Birkelbach Field in Georgetown. “We worked hard together, we came together as a team and then we became a family, just a bunch of big sisters and little sisters. They will always be my family.”

And they will always, as Tipton reminded the girls in the gym Monday, be 2017 state champions.

“Nobody can ever take that away from you,” he said. “No matter what happens, who wins it next year, whatever, you are all state champions. That can never change.”

Alford was named state tournament MVP by media covering the event, a fitting end for a sweeper anchoring a defense that allowed only nine goals all season.

“That’s just about unheard of, and we all know Savannah was a big reason why we were able to do that,” Weil said. “We have good goal keepers and other good players in the back, but each of those girls will tell you Savannah was their leader, or that the combination Savannah and Kalee (Wright) were their leaders. And when it comes to leading, and defense, she’s the best we’ve ever had.”


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And that’s enough to make her the best in Texas.

“This isn’t something we’ll get every year,” Weil said with a chuckle. “I mean we could win state several more times and not have a 4A through 6A athlete of the year. That’s a big-time honor, and she deserved it.”

MSU and Alford begin preseason matches this week and open the regular season with seven consecutive home matches at Stang Park there in Wichita Falls. The season opener is Friday, September 1, against Regis (Colo.), beginning at 5 p.m.

“It’s all gone so fast, it’s like I still haven’t had much time to stop and think about everything we did,” said Alford. “But i’ll never forget it or Coach Weil or any of my sisters. We’ll always be champions.”


FaceTime came in handy when teammates of Savannah Alford wanted to share the moment with her face to face.

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