BEAUMONT, Texas — Dash Beaumont is giving "power city" a new meaning and after years of hard work the team can say they're State Champions.
“They went all the way and were in the final eight of the country so I couldn’t be any more proud of them,” said Dash Beaumont Coach Mikey Olaberrita.
“We want more State Champions, more players and teams going off to regionals," said Dynamo Dash Youth Soccer Club director Thomas Shenton. "Make an official stance. We are the best youth soccer program in this area.”
Dash Beaumont 03/04 made it further than any southeast Texas youth soccer team at the USYS Southern Regional Championship.
“They qualified for regionals which is each state has one representative and they competed against 13 other teams in Tennessee," said Shenton. "This team went all the way to the final and to the final two. Unfortunately lost in the final, did not advance to nationals, but it’s still the furthest that any team from southeast Texas has ever gone.”
“We’ve been playing together for a very long time and we’ve kind of been building up to this moment and working for a long time for this moment,” said Abigail Hickman, a Dash Beaumont player from West Brook High School.
Since elementary school these girls say they've have been committed to the game and don’t plan on letting up.
“Even during the summer, all of us are done with school right now but we still came twice a week sometimes more and just worked our hearts out to get to where we were, so I hope we keep doing that next year to achieve the goals that we want,” said Bailey Schroeder, a Dash Beaumont player out of Lumberton High School.
Shenton said the 03/04 team has set the standard for the club. He says state championships are the expectation.
“To play in the National State Cup number one is an achievement," said Shenton. "Then to win state is another achievement. Then to make it to finals and regionals is a further achievement , so the example is, that standard now is that the players just from this area, from southeast Texas, have now shown everybody else that it can be done.”
Now the club says they're focusing on becoming champions at the national level.
“I think we can all agree that we all want to make it to nationals next year and keep winning,” said Marlee Sonnier, a Dash Beaumont player from Port Neches-Groves High School.