2006/06/25 Franklin Rebel Alumni meet again in the Women's Premier Soccer League
Sara Wohlhueter signs one of several soccer balls that were given away
at a meet and greet for fans of the Tennessee FC Lady Blues Thursday
at Golden Corral in Cool Springs. Wohlhueter, a Franklin High soccer alum,
is one of several players on the team with Williamson County ties.
Sara Wohlhueter had always wanted to have some extra activity in the summer months. Since graduating from Franklin High in 2003 and moving on to Middle Tennessee State, she had been without a soccer fix.
Now she and several other local soccer stars are getting their chance.
Wohlhueter is a member of the Tennessee FC Lady Blues, the newest members of the Women’s Premier Soccer League and a locally based team. The WPSL is the highest level of women’s soccer in the United States, and it is the second-ranked women’s league in the world, according to team owner Rick Forsythe. Forsythe and several of the players were on hand Thursday night at Golden Corral in Cool Springs for a meet and greet session with young soccer fans, where the players talked with and signed autographs for fans.
“I always had wanted a place to play in the summer,” she said. “Now I get to come back (from school) and have this opportunity. It’s a good way to keep your touch on the ball, and this is higher competition than in college.”
The Lady Blues were formed earlier this year, Forsythe said, with very little knowledge of the competition it would face in the WPSL. They responded with a tremendous start to their inaugural season, winning their first three games and sitting atop the Midwest Division. In that three-game stretch was a victory against FC Indiana, who is the defending national champion in the league.
The team has since lost two straight but is hopeful to keep up its winning ways the rest of the season and get into the playoffs in late July and early August.
“It’s been a phenomenal start for us,” Forsythe said. “We really didn’t know how we would do in the beginning.”
A slew of former Williamson County girls’ soccer stars join Wohlhueter on the team, which is made up of a collaboration of college players from across the state. Also playing are Franklin High alums Brittney Potts, Leslie Lopez and Katy Rayburn, while Battle Ground Academy alum Becca Murray and Brentwood alums Kate Hughes and Molly Turner also fill the roster.
Wohlhueter, Potts and others were part of Franklin’s three Class AAA State Championships in four years (2000, ’02, ’03), so being on the same team again is a bonus.
“It’s been a good reunion for us,” Wohlhueter said. “I never thought I would be playing with some of these girls again. It’s awesome this is the highest level of women’s soccer. This is an opportunity for all of us to improve the reputation of women’s soccer.”
The league is a premier soccer league, but the players are not paid so it does not violate NCAA rules regarding participation, Forsythe said.
He got involved in starting the team because of his history with the Tennessee Futbol Club (he is the current vice president for marketing) and his business, TeamSportsOnline.
TeamSportsOnline LLC is a sports marketing and solutions-based company that specializes in providing web marketing and communication tools to professional, amateur, and youth sports programs around the world. After being granted the rights for the team in January, the next few months were a whirlwind trying to get things set up for this inaugural season, he said.
“We’re pretty excited with what we’ve put together,” Forsythe said. “Hopefully next year we’ll be able to catch our breath.”
The Lady Blues have a two-game home set this weekend, with the second game today at 7 p.m. against Michigan Phoenix. The Lady Blues play their home games at Franklin Road Academy in Nashville. To find out more about the team or to purchase tickets to upcoming games log onto the Web site at ladyblues.net, and to find out about the WPSL log onto wpsl.info.
August 2006 Williamson Herald
Soccer Capsules
by Doug Dyer, Sportswriter
Franklin Head Coach: Jimmy Burchett
Mascot: Rebels
League: Class AAA, District 11
2005 Results: Eliminated in district semifinals
Names to watch: Kacie Horner, Sarah Sharp, Chelsea Eisnaugle
The skinny: The Lady Rebels have a lot of youth on the team this year, and Burchett said the team’s performance may hinge on how quickly those youngsters mesh into the fold. A loss to Brentwood in the district semifinals last season still fuels Franklin’s passion to be a state contender again.
2006/08/31 Williamson Herald
Freshman Anna Grigg and
the Franklin girls’ soccer
team is looking to get
back to its winning ways
this fall, competing again
for a district title and a run
at the state tournament.
Sarah Sharp remembers the sick feeling she had last fall when she looked at the scoreboard showing Brentwood taking a 1-0 victory against her beloved Franklin soccer team. “It was pretty devastating,” she said.
The loss in the semifinals of the District 11-AAA Tournament was the first time a Franklin girl’s soccer team had ended its season before the region tournament since 1997.
The Franklin program is a proud one, having won 10 state championships (a state record) since girls’ soccer was sanctioned as a TSSAA sport in 1986. So it’s probably safe to say Sharp, and the rest of the Lady Revels for that matter; don’t want to experience that losing feeling again.
“We had such a good team, but I think we got lazy,” Sharp said. “So much is expected of us, just being Franklin High.”
I really felt bad for those girls last year,” Franklin coach Jimmy Burchett said. “It took me a while to get over that one.”
Franklin enters 2006 with a mostly revamped roster, without such familiar names as Lexie Heilerman, Monica Dunham, and Sara DeFatta, all of whom were mainstays on the team for the last four years. No, this year Burchett is having to plug some holes with some younger players, but these are players who he feels can be difference-makers for Franklin.
“We lost a lot of players from last year; and now we’re either young or we have juniors without varsity experience,” he said. “It’s all about how quick we can adjust to the speed of the game so we can see what we’ll be able to do.”
Sharp and fellow senior Kacie Horner are convinced this year’s group already has better chemistry than last year’s team. With so many young faces, it was important to help those younger players feel welcomed into the Lady Rebel fold.
“During the summer we did a lot of bonding things as a team,” Sharp said. “This is the first year we’ve ever been so close-knit. In the past everyone would break off into groups depending on what class you were in. Now everyone gets along well, and everyone’s on the same level.”
“We’re doing more things as a team off the field,” Horner said. “These (young) girls have a lot of talent, and they will be good for us.”
Already Franklin has been tested in the preseason by playing such teams as Division II powers Father Ryan and Pope John Paul II. The Lady Rebels have followed that up with a 2-0 start to the regular season, which includes a 1-0 victory against a solid Battle Ground Academy team Thursday night.
“I’ve been really impressed with the players we’ve got and the things we’re doing different than in the past,” Burchett said. “We’ve got some depth, if we can just stay healthy.”
The road will not be easy for Franklin by any means, because the Rebels play in the toughest soccer district in the state – Brentwood, Centennial, Ravenwood, and Independence all have talented players and are a threat to win the league.
Brentwood and Centennial both were state qualifiers last season, and Ravenwood and Independence have grown their programs inter perennial contenders.
“We don’t want a repeat from last year,” Horner said. “We’re gonna do whatever we can.”
2006/09/04 Williamson Herald
Anna Grigg scored the only goal of the game Thursday night, as Franklin took a girls' soccer victory against Battle Ground Academy, 1-0.
Grigg found the back of the net past BGA keeper Jessica Smith in the 18th minute, and Franklin's defense was able to hold of the Lady Wildcats in the second half. Rebel goalie Taylor
Mangrum made six saves for the game, compared with seven saves for Smith.
The Lady Rebels(2-0) were in Hendersonville this weekend facing Selbyville and St. Agnes in a tournament, and Franklin will travel on the road again Tuesday to take on District 11-AAA and country rival Ravenwood.
2006/10/02 Williamson Herald
Franklin --
Before the season started, Franklin girls soccer coach Jimmy Burchett didn’t know what to expect from his team dominated by underclassmen.
Eight games into the season, the smile on Burchett’s face explains just how much his team has surprised him.
“(The underclassmen) took things very seriously from the start,” he said. “They realized the goals that we set forth and understand that they had to step up for us to achieve those goals.”
The Lady Rebels jumped out the gate this year with seven straight wins, including victories over state powers Battle Ground Academy (1-0) and Collierville (4-0). While Franklin is surging toward success, the team didn’t foresee this type of start, as they had to learn that it takes a cooperative unit to win soccer games.
“At first we were shaky,” said Kacie Horner, senior co-captain. “Everyone was trying to do it all by themselves.”
One reason Franklin is off to such a quick start is its offensive production. Franklin has scored 29 goals this season and is scoring an average of four goals a game this season. Capitalizing on those opportunities has been among the key differences from last year’s team.
“We’ve worked a lot more on finishing,” Horner said. “The freshmen have really helped us in that area. We are taking advantage of our opportunities.”
Another difference is the level of intensity that this year’s squad brings to the field. Though the Lady Revels are young, they play with the intensity that Burchett has looked for the last couple of years. There wasn’t much talk of the Lady Revels in the preseason – a first in several years. That provided them with extra motivation.
“We have a lot more heart,” senior co-captain Sarah Sharp said. “We had so much skill that some things were taken for granted. It was as though we expected it instead of really working for it. This season we are playing out every minute of the game and that’s reflecting on the scoreboard.”
Something else is happening, too. The visitor’s side of the scoreboard keeps reading zero. Franklin has six shutouts on the year and has only given up five goals; four of them came in the loss against St. Agnes in the Katie Hunter Invitational championship game. Franklin has a dynamic duo at the goalie position in freshman Taylor Mangrum and sophomore Megan Polk.
“I was kind of intimidated at first, because they are seniors,” Mangrum said of the play she has gotten. “I’ve gotten used to it now and just come out here and play hard.”
For Polk, playing goalkeeper for the Lady Rebels is a dream come true. As a little girl, Polk grew up watching the star-studded Franklin teams of the past. This season she plans to do her part to bring Franklin back to that level of greatness.
“The past couple of years we hadn’t been doing well,” Polk said. “Not being recognized has pushed us harder. We are working hard to get the program back to state championship level.”
2006/10/26 Tennessean
Early goals send Franklin to state
by Chip Cirillo
The Lady Rebels earned their first appearance at the state tournament since 2003 when Franklin won its 10th state title, the most of any program in Tennessee.
2006/11/02 Chattanooga Times Free Press
Bearden's Big Two come Up Big
by Lindsay Youjng, Staff Writer
Bearden High School soccer coach Eric Turner asked his two top players to play like it Wednesday in the TSSAA Class AAA soccer quarterfinals at Baylor, and Amy Porter and Alex Meehan listened.
Porter scored two goals while Meehan added another and anchored a stout defense as the Bulldogs (20-3-2) downed second-ranked Houston 4-1.
"Those were two big-time players who stepped up in a big game," Turner said. "Alex set the tempo at midfield. She won all the balls and when you have a players who does that, it sets up your scorers. And Amy Porter is a big-time finisher."
Porter scored the game's first two goals as Bearden led 2-0 at the half, but Houston's Kate Livingston scored on a free kick early in the second half to make it a game. Meehan, though, put the margin back at two with a penalty kick just two minutes later, while Emily Bithers scored an insurance goal at the 65-minute mark.
In other AAA action, Siegel 2, Franklin 2 (Siegel advances on penalty kicks, 4-3): In the day's most exciting match, Siegel keeper Meredith Taylor stopped consecutive penalty kicks as the Lady Stars (20-3-1) advanced.
Franklin's Lucy Brient scored with 1:10 remaining in regulation to send the game into overtime, then teammate Anna Grigg scored an unassisted goal before Siegel's Brittany Miller tied it at the 98:33 mark to send the match to penalty kicks.
2006/11 The Rebel Review
Lady Rebels Soccer...Another State Run
By Ryan Porth- Staff Writer
With a 3-0 win over Clarksville in their sub-state game, the Lady Rebel Soccer team qualified for the state tournament in Chattanooga. After a heartbreaking penalty kick loss to Siegel, The Rebel Review congratulates the team for a triumphant season, and continuing their long-lasting 'dynasty'.
Casey Horner keeps ball from opponent.
Under the reigns of head coach Jimmy Burchett, the Lady Rebels have continued their dynasty from the late 1980's and early 90's. The team has won ten state titles since 1986, including three with Burchett as coach (2000, '02, and '03).
The first Lady Rebel soccer team was in 1982, but as a club team. Since 1986, when the TSSAA sanctioned the sport of soccer, the team is 305 (wins)-72 (losses)-31 (ties). With Coach Burchett at the helm since '97, they are 143-40-19.
According to the team's website, they set national records in the early 90's. They set the record for most state championships (7), and for consecutive state titles ('89-'93). They were also ranked nationally in the top twenty for five consecutive years. The head coach in the record-setting era was Gary Shrader. Shrader's record as coach was 155-25-9.
In 2004, the Lady Rebels finished first in the region. A year later, they finished a disappointing third in the district, where they were ousted in the regional tournament by rival Brentwood on a last-minute goal. A key to their recent success has been very dedicated groups of players. According to Coach Burchett, most of the players play year-round. Also contributing to their remarkable success, the Lady Rebels have received good training from their travel/club team coaches.
Meghan Mace prepares to cross.
Behind senior leaders Kacie Horner and Sarah Sharp, the Lady Rebels are striving towards another state title. Already region champs they are that much closer. Although they have an inexperienced team at the high school level, Coach Burchett and company are confident they can raise another title banner. And with a talented group returning next season, junior Ashley Ladd, sophomore Lucy Brient, Laurena Robinson, and freshman Stephani Dunham, maybe they can fill the rafters.
2006/11/02 Williamson Herald
Things feel much calmer this week among the girls’ soccer players at Franklin High. After missing out the last two seasons, the Lady Rebels were back in Chattanooga this week for the Class AAA state tournament after winning their sectional match last Saturday against Clarksville.
“We just have four players who have ever been to state,” Franklin coach Jimmy Burchett said. “(Getting there) is going to mean a lot to the younger players. I’m not looking ahead, but it’s invaluable in the next two or three years for those players to have this experience.”
Franklin is no stranger to reaching the state tournament or competing for state titles. The Lady Rebels have the richest soccer history in the state, winning a state record 10 championships.
Getting back here has been hard work for Burchett’s team, though, having to fight through a tough district and losing to Ravenwood in the District 11-AAA tournament two weeks ago.
“We’ve really had an up and down route to get here,” he said. “We struggled back to get through Ravenwood, when they were playing really well.”
Ravenwood missed out on its first trip to state, losing 3-1 to Hendersonville in its sectional game Saturday. Franklin played Siegel from Murfreesboro in its opening game on Wednesday.
“It’s certainly going to be a test for us,” Burchett said. “But our players have bought into the game plans we’ve put forth in the big games.”
Brentwood Academy and Battle Ground Academy also returned to the Division II state tournament, with BA making its second appearance in the school’s history, this time as the No. 2 seed from the Middle Region.
BGA captured the Middle Region championship and played Hutchison School from Memphis in the first round, while BA matched up with Girls Preparatory School from Chattanooga.
“The good news right now is we are healthy,” BA coach Randy Johnson said. “We still struggle with the first 20 minutes of games, so we feel if we can get past that we will do fine. GPS has allowed only 11 goals all season, so we can’t allow an early goal and get behind.”
In Class A/AA, Fairview also missed out on the school’s first state tournament berth, losing in overtime to Spring Hill Saturday in a sectional contest. The Lady Yellow Jackets had a tremendous season, reaching the Region 5-A/AA finals against Franklin Road Academy and finishing as the District 10-A/AA tournament champions.
If the three teams won their quarterfinal games on Wednesday, they would play in the semifinal round today. The finals are set for Saturday at GPS.
2006 Season
Coach Burchett surpasses the all-time Franklin Soccer win total
This 2006 Season, Coach Burchett surpasses Gary Shrader's all-time win total of 155, ending the season with 159 total victories.
2006-2007 Franklin Yearbook
Girls Soccer Kicked Out!
It's the quarter finals at the state championship, and the Lady Rebel Soccer team is at it again trying to bring home yet another victory! The game has come down to "shoot outs" in double over-time. What's going to happen? How is it going to end?...The Girl's Soccer team made it all the way to the quarter finals at state, but unfortunately lost in double over-time. But it's alright because they put forth a great effort all year for their very successful season, which made their games fun events. The team was sad to lose four key seniors, but were excited about the upcoming underclassmen.
Senior Sarah Sharp
Senior Kacie Korner
Junior Alyssa Doolan
Junior Felicia Maldanado
Juniors Caitlin Parker, Alex Whitfield,
and Kathryn DeFatta
Sophomore Kaitlynn Heileman
Sophomore Lucy Brient
Freshman Jennifer Bell observes
Freshman Caroline Hiskey