As is customary, Americans tend to ward off soccer as some relic of the old-world. “Communist sport,” I’ve heard it called. “I don’t get it,” “it makes no sense,” “what’s offsides?” echoed time and time again from young to old with -here’s the real punch- zero desire to effect change. Despite, or in spite, these truths it’s coaches like Tom Stone and teams like these Red Raider women who fight the good fight and prove why soccer matters in a city as much a physical desert as it can be a cultural one.
Not too long ago I wrote a short piece on the basic DNA of this elite soccer team, and why it has deservedly requested our full attention.