‘We made history together’: Philly girls soccer club made a pact to bring home first U.S. Youth Soccer national title

The Philadelphia girls soccer club talked about what it meant to have a star badge on the team uniforms. Besides signifying a championship victory, the star would be a reminder for the Northeast-based club that they recently made history.

Coppa Rage’s under-17 team had its dreams become a reality July 24, when it beat Tonka Fusion Elite of Wayzata, Minn., 5-0, to win the U.S. Youth Soccer national championship, becoming the first title winner of any gender from the city since 1967.

“I was just so happy for the girls,” said Coppa Rage coach Tom DeGeorge. “It’s kind of like self-motivation with this team, so it was little things like they’re gonna have a star on Coppa’s jersey forever now. … We’re going to be part of history.”

» READ MORE: Philadelphia team wins youth soccer national championship

After falling to La Roca of Weber, Utah, in the under-16 USYS finals last year — the team’s first appearance at any nationals — Coppa Rage applied what it learned to this season. The girls, most of whom have been playing together since middle school, took the loss personally. They made it a goal to train outside of practice.

Center midfielder Isabella Brown, a senior at Springside Chestnut Hill Academy, referred to the team being an underdog last season at nationals. Not many teams knew the Philly-based club, and Coppa Rage didn’t know much about its opponents, only that they were competitive.

During the finals match, DeGeorge said, the girls became exhausted during the game. Part of it was the Florida heat, since the teams play at Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex near Orlando. Getting the girls in shape early in the season, he concluded, would benefit them before the summer.

The team started to become obsessed with the idea of getting back to nationals. The memory of watching the other group being presented with a trophy became motivation to train outside of DeGeorge’s practice. On their days off, the girls would text in their group chat to set up joint runs, head to a nearby field to work on shooting, or go to the gym together.

“Last year, losing the final was the worst feeling in the world,” DeGeorge’s daughter, Ava, said. “We had to sit there and watch the other team get T-shirts, bags, hats. … I remember looking around my teammates, and everyone was crying. Then this year everyone was saying, ‘This is our year.’”

As Coppa Rage began training for nationals, they wanted to prepare for the weather. On a hot summer day at Northeast High School, where the team would practice some days, the girls wore long sleeves to build up more sweat.

Centerback Alexis Ocasio, a senior at Neshaminy High School, said since the group has been playing together for a while, the team learned each other’s specialties and how to play off one another.

The connection showed, from the defense making clean passes downfield to the midfielders, who would then find an open attacker near the net, in position to score.

“If people watch our games they’re like, ‘Man, everybody just knows where the next person is,’” DeGeorge said. “They’ve been together so long, and they play such a nice style, that it just kind of flows. It’s almost like watching the same movie sometimes. They’re very good at knowing where everybody is.”

DeGeorge is a former midfielder at Arcadia University, where he was a two time All-American and was inducted into the school’s hall of fame in 2012. He’s also the head coach of Archbishop Wood’s girls soccer team, winners of the Catholic League championship this past season.

Ava DeGeorge, a junior at Archbishop Wood, has always enjoyed sharing the bond over soccer with her dad. The competitive nature of the sport has brought the two closer.

DeGeorge wanted to bring a level of seriousness to the group. He felt the best way of doing that is creating a positive environment where the girls build off each other, and develop friendships.

“I always believe if the girls are having fun, they’re going to learn,” DeGeorge said. “If the girls want to be there, you’re going to be successful. I don’t feel there was a point where their mom and dad said, ‘You have to go to practice tonight.’ And these kids said, ‘Really?’ I think they really embraced it and enjoyed it.”

The biggest obstacle for Coppa Rage was finding fields at which to play. Since the Philly soccer club doesn’t have turf fields, DeGeorge used the team budget to rent Holy Family’s and Bristol’s turf field for the girls to practice.

Although it can be difficult to manage playing at different facilities, the parents helped. They were heavily involved in helping the team with rides, water, and other necessities — even at nationals, where they set up a misting tent to help the girls cool off.

The energy was high during the final game at nationals. Teammates were hyping one another up screaming, “It’s game day,” and “We’re not losing this game.”

After they won, the team celebrated at Disney World. The girls developed a deeper friendship that day. While they spent the whole season chasing the same goal, it was the culture they built along the way that led to their success.

“We made history together,” Brown said. “These girls are basically like my sisters. I’ve been playing with them for years. I can literally count on them for anything. It makes a big difference in how we play because we trust each other. We like to work hard for each other, and we want to win for each other.”