A win at one of the nation's most prestigious youth tournaments last weekend has the Dallas Texans U14 Girls team brimming with confidence as it prepares for the Region III Championships.

Shawn Cantrell's Dallas Texans Red '94 squad conceded just 2 goals in 7 matches to win the Man United Nike Premier Cup at the shoe manufacturing giant's campus in Beaverton, OR. Goalkeeper Abby Smith led a cast of heroines with 2 saves in post-match penalties as Texans defeated Crossfire Premier in the final. Kelsey Shimmick fired home the winning PK to set off a Texans celebration, one that Smith said still hasn't completely died down. As if winning against such a strong field of opponents wasn't incentive enough, Cantrell's team were buoyed by the knowledge that Nike will be flying the tournament winners to Sweden for the Gothia Cup in July.

"We wanted to go really bad," Smith said of her team's drive to win the trip. "We keep texting each other to say ‘Guess what? And the answer is always: ‘We're going to Sweden!'  We're still really excited and it's hard to believe we're going."

Cantrell said he believed the unique format of the tournament – teams play 20 minute halves to offset the number of matches played in close proximity (this is fairly typical internationally), was a good thing for his squad.

"You have to have a very aggressive mindset. There's no time to feel a team out," he said. "You have to go in with a game plan and be able to make some adjustments on the fly. You have to be mentally focused from the beginning whistle. There's no time to daydream and be relaxed.

"I think it's good in a way. The intensity of the games is such that the kids come off pretty exhausted if they put in good work, even though it's only for 40 minutes. We think the format is good for us and playing in a different format tests the character and stretches the boundaries of players."

While Texans had won the Region III Premier League West in the fall to qualify for US. Youth Soccer's Region III Championship, they lost the North Texas State Cup in the semifinal round, something Cantrell said probably jostled the team from any feeling of complacency prior to the tournament in Oregon.

Texans were drawn into a tough group for the 32-team tournament, including club heavyweights PDA of New Jersey and Eclipse Select of the Chicago area, plus Los Angeles-area club Arsenal FC. Amanda Elertson scored the winner in a 1-0 win over PDA, with an assist by Lissi Lonsberry. After a scoreless draw with Eclipse, the team advanced to the round of 16 with a 3-0 win over Arsenal.

In that game, Angel Garcia scored a golazo with a header from a cross by Kelsey Shimmick. Lonsberry followed with 2 goals, one on another assist from Shimmick and another on a penalty.

In the round of 16, Texans went up 2-0 on goals from Lonsberry and Shimmick, but were stunned when opponents FC Barcelona hit them for 2 goals in a few minutes of the 2nd half. This put the match into penalties but Texans prevailed 5-4.

A strong defensive effort and a moment of magic gave Texans a 1-0 win over Arizona side Sereno SC in the quarterfinal. Shimmeck touched the ball between 2 defenders and ran around them to reclaim the ball before pulling a pass back to Elerton who struck the back of the net with a winner.

In both the semifinal and final Texans played to scoreless draws through 40 minutes of regulation and 10 minutes of overtime, but Smith came up with 2 saves against both Mustang SC (with Kelsey Bass scoring the winning PK) and Crossfire to allow Texans to hoist the cup in victory.

Smith, a U14 Girls National Team goalkeeper, said she tries to read the opposing penalty taker to determine what they will do.

"I look at them and kind of read what way they go. If they look up and I look into their eyes they sort of give it away," she said. "They might look to a side and then go the opposite way. That's how I judge."

Smith credited her defensive unit (Lauren Reyes, Sara Watson, Shelby Soldat, Kelsey Bass and Ashley Vega) with excellent communication all week.

Before we would play, we would tell each other nothing goes through," Smith said. "We had each other's back. We would always talk and make sure everyone was playing hard. We have this connection where we can just talk to each other."

Cantrell added that the team's midfield corps of Makenzie Koch, Angel Garcia, Antoinette Bennett, Brook Harrick and Lindsey Meyer were also instrumental in keeping opposing scoring chances to a minimum.

The coach expects the big win to provide a boost of confidence for his team before the Region III event in Raleigh.

 "You have the majority of the best teams in the country (at Man United Cup) so as far as preparation goes for understanding what it takes to win a regional or national event, it's a huge learning experience for us. They should know now that it takes a team to win and not an individual. We only traveled with 14 and no guest players, so it was a really good experience to come together and understand that it's never about one player."