Playing Through

In theory, the young girls are crazy about the University of Texas women's soccer team. They'll tell you themselves, straight up, that there's nobody on the face of the earth who loves Kelsey Carpenter or Kasey Moore or rookie forward and leading scorer Niki Arlitt more than they do. They love them because ... ? Because they're inspiring! Because they're cool! Because they're not girlie girls!

"Yeah," says Jessica Jankowsky, 10, who stands all of 3½ feet tall but is nevertheless one of the fiercest forwards on her Highland Park soccer team. "Being a girlie girl would be the worst thing in the world, like being a cheerleader when you can be a player instead."

Here some of the girls disagree. The worst thing in the world, they aver, is being a boy.

"Yeah!" they squeal as one. "Boys are just stupid. They don't share. They don't pass. They're not methodical. They aren't better. They just show off more. That's why we love the Texas women."

But even for these hardest of hardcore Longhorn fans – i.e., girls between the ages of 8 and 12 – enthusiasm has its limits. Just 20 minutes into a lifeless 0-0 tie with Kansas, the girls are already growing restless. "Are they ever going to score?" they ask. "Is this ever going to end?"

For about a minute there, back in early October, the Texas women's soccer team had been ranked No. 1 in the country. The problem is they must have gotten the memo. Instead of playing like scrappy underdogs, to win, they play not to get beat. (A disclosure: I teach and take some classes at UT.) With Dianna Pfenninger in goal and Kasey Moore anchoring the defense, the Longhorns have been a hard nut to crack. Going into this weekend's Big 12 tournament in San Antonio, Texas is 13-3-3, scoring twice as often as its opponents. But it's the defense that's been getting the job done, giving up less than a goal a game, while the offense has been spotty. Despite finishing conference play with decisive wins over Oklahoma and Colorado, Texas went from averaging 2.66 goals a game in the first half of the season to 1.4 in the second – not the kind of firepower that will win the Big 12, let alone the NCAA Championship.

"We're struggling up front," coach Chris Petrucelli says after the Kansas tie. "We're not creating the kind of chances that we need to."

"And when we do have chances," adds forward Kelsey Carpenter, "we're not putting them away. That's all there is to it."

But at least one of the 10-year-old fans is willing to cut the Longhorns some slack. "It's fun to watch," says Carolyn Grundman, "because you can see who has the same number that you do."

"What does that have to do with soccer?" her friend Kelly Olson asks, sucking on her teeth.

"I know; it doesn't," Carolyn says. "But it's still cool."

She's right; it is – especially if you're 10, especially if you're just discovering a new kind of woman to admire. It just may not be enough to take the conference title.