Great season for the Tornados. Went from the 43 seed in Lakehighlands Qualifying to D1 in two years. Coach Kerlin has done a great job with these girls and look forward to D1 next season....sorta. Congratulations!!!!!!

Congrats to your dd's team. I hope they fare better in D1 next year than last season's D2 grads.
BTW...Got any ideas on how to accomplish that?

Flatback4 wrote:I predict they will lose their first D1 game.

That's a good bet given that it will likely be against the Texans. This "top-vs-the-bottom" scheduling scheme used by Lake Highlands is a brutal introduction for the D-1 freshmen. They will most likely be resoundingly beaten their first five games. The trick will be for them to keep their heads up and play with the confidence that got them there in order to finish out the season with some victories.

Congrats to the Tornados.

Shotshagger wrote:Congrats to your dd's team. I hope they fare better in D1 next year than last season's D2 grads.
BTW...Got any ideas on how to accomplish that?

Maybe add a couple of great players to beef up the roster? Does the roster go to 18 next year?

I agree with Lawnboy, it will be brutal, Tornados have seen limited D1 competition in past tournaments. Played FC Dallas, Liverpool Elite and Solar Gold. So its hard to predict, I think they can be competitive.

Wow. Some people have an inflated opinion of the Tornadoes. What helped that team was much less turnover and turmoil than most of their competition in D2. Reality is that most of the D2 teams this year have spent the entire year finding their way. The Tornadoes didn't become better than anyone else. The competition became worse. They will be cannon fodder in D1.

Curlpappa wrote:Great season for the Tornados. Went from the 43 seed in Lakehighlands Qualifying to D1 in two years. Coach Kerlin has done a great job with these girls and look forward to D1 next season....sorta. Congratulations!!!!!!

Congrats to Scott and all he has done with this team since they went select. I've seen a number of their games this year and he has a good solid core that will hold their own in D1.

Does Kerlin plan on attempting D1 without a dedicated goalie?

jokerswild wrote:Wow. Some people have an inflated opinion of the Tornadoes. What helped that team was much less turnover and turmoil than most of their competition in D2. Reality is that most of the D2 teams this year have spent the entire year finding their way. The Tornadoes didn't become better than anyone else. The competition became worse. They will be cannon fodder in D1.

You are correct the D2 teams , lost players, coaches, turmoil and finding their way etc..., Come on give credit were credit is do to the Tornados girls talent, development and parents. Who have stuck together with a vision and commitment to stay together because they are loyal, patient and have faith in the development philosophy by the coach and organization. Its is part of the game keeping your team together, which they dominated the other clubs in that area. The parents are not looking for"the best teams" or "play in D1" instead, sticking it out and strive to become the best they can be together and if its in D1 or D2 so be it. However, I disagree that they "didnt become better than anyone else". They also beat every team in D2 last year before said turmoil and exodus of players etc. In addition, most teams will improve over the next season if they keep most of their same unit. Nobody thought this team to be a D1 team 2 years ago. They are that now, cant argue with success. Tornados also had three new starters at the start of the season too. So they had a little turnover as well. I believe they improved and will continue.

You might be right about being "cannon fodder" every 98g team in Texas is pretty much cannon fodder for the top 5....right now. But some day who knows?

Shotshagger wrote:Does Kerlin plan on attempting D1 without a dedicated goalie?

Thats a great question that has been talked about. His current philosophy is to have two goalies that can also be field players. We will have to see what happens at tryouts. If a great dedicated goalie comes to the team than he will have to make that decision.

Curlpappa wrote:

Shotshagger wrote:Congrats to your dd's team. I hope they fare better in D1 next year than last season's D2 grads.
BTW...Got any ideas on how to accomplish that?

Maybe add a couple of great players to beef up the roster? Does the roster go to 18 next year?

I agree with Lawnboy, it will be brutal, Tornados have seen limited D1 competition in past tournaments. Played FC Dallas, Liverpool Elite and Solar Gold. So its hard to predict, I think they can be competitive.

Congratulations on going D1. So is coach going with a full roster?

thisorthat wrote:

Curlpappa wrote:

Shotshagger wrote:Congrats to your dd's team. I hope they fare better in D1 next year than last season's D2 grads.
BTW...Got any ideas on how to accomplish that?

Maybe add a couple of great players to beef up the roster? Does the roster go to 18 next year?

I agree with Lawnboy, it will be brutal, Tornados have seen limited D1 competition in past tournaments. Played FC Dallas, Liverpool Elite and Solar Gold. So its hard to predict, I think they can be competitive.

Congratulations on going D1. So is coach going with a full roster?

Thanks. I think so.

congratulations to DFW Tornados for making D1. Best of luck to them in D1 they will be a great addition to D1.