It was a 17th birthday like no other. Frannie Coxe, a 2011 midfielder, had just come off a successful high school varsity season and was preparing for National League play with her GU17 Slammers FC team. Frannie and her Slammers team knew what was at stake. They needed to win 2 of 3 National League games in Las Vegas to earn a spot at the 2010 USYSA National Championships this summer.

Frannie and her Slammers team are no strangers to the National Championships. She said, “At U14 we lost a heartbreaker in the finals at Nationals in double overtime. At U15, we earned a trip back to Nationals the old fashioned way by winning our Cal South National Cup for the third time and the Region IV Championship for the second time, but we fell short in the last minute in the semifinal match.”

Frannie’s team earned its third appearance at Nationals this past weekend by winning its first Las Vegas National League game 1 to 0 in a hard fought contest against Cleveland FC. The second game, on March 21, 2010, against the Camarillo Eagles was monumental. It was a year ago - to the exact day - that the Slammers played the very same Eagles’ team in a Far West Regional game in Camarillo. In the last 30 seconds of the game, Frannie suffered a broken fibula bone and sublexation to her ankle.

“This Las Vegas game against the Eagles was more than winning a spot to Nationals. My teammates are my family. We’re like sisters and they wanted to win this for me as much as they did for the team,” Frannie said. “Frannie scored a hat trick in the 3 to 0 win that secured her team a place on the pitch at the 2010 National Championships. “The credit goes to my teammates. They were connecting passes and possessing. The balls they sent me at the top of the box were gift balls. As a center mid, I think more about passing and making my teammates look good if I can. Now, they did that for me. And my coaches, Walid, Ziad and George, primed us to stick to our game, to possess and create chances for each other - to play our game. I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect moment in time.”

Last year, Frannie had planned a 16th birthday lunch after that fateful Far West Regional game but found herself in the hospital awaiting diagnosis and later surgery. “It seems long ago that that happened. But, I'll never forget how my Slammers family wrapped its arms around me. Our team manager, JoAnn Bak, came to the hospital with my parents and waited there for hours with us. The Slammers director of coaching, Walid Khoury, was coaching my team that day. As I was being put in the ambulance, I’ll never forget his words as he was comforting me. “I have your back Frannie, don’t worry,” he said. Khoury says today, “Frannie is a complete soccer player. She understands the game so well, is always at the right place at the right time and is a great passer. She plays because she loves the game and that’s what it’s all about.”

Frannie believes things happen for a reason. “I had never been injured before and I’ve been playing since I was five – only the normal bumps and bruises. But, this made me really appreciate what it means to just walk. I missed being active and running. I took my health and playing soccer for granted. While I was recuperating, my surgeon recommended the Lance Armstrong book, “It’s Not About The Bike.” It spoke about how to move forward and keep believing once you’ve been hit by adversity, about how to face hardship head on and get back up to win again. My favorite quote from the book is “Make every obstacle an opportunity...Make every negative into a positive.”

Frannie says she wouldn’t change a thing. In the months of recovery, she worked hard every day to come back to the game bigger, better, stronger and faster. And did she ever! A member of Cal South ODP, standing 5’ 10” and weighing 143 pounds, Frannie led her Division 1 San Clemente High School Varsity Soccer Team to an undefeated league season and its third straight South Coast League title in the soccer hotbed of Orange County, California. For the third straight year, her team made it to the D1 CIF Championship with Frannie leading the team in total offensive points as well as leading the entire County in assists (18 assists, 6 goals). Her team also appeared in the title match of the 2010 CIF Southern California Regional Division 1 playoffs after having won it last year.

For her efforts, Frannie was just awarded South Coast League MVP, First Team All League and First Team All County. On her 17th birthday on the very day, March 22nd, she was honored with an unimaginable gift - the prestigious CIF-SS Division 1 Offensive Player of the Year Award. The accomplishment is exceptional since the award is generally given to seniors and forwards.

“I’m lucky to play at San Clemente High School. My coach, Stacey Finnerty, had already won 3 D1 CIF titles before I played on varsity my freshman year. I felt the pressure, but in a good way,” Frannie said. “She creates an environment where I’m free to play my game and all the girls do their personal best to help the team be the champion, not the individual. That’s why we’ve won the CIF Championship two years in a row. This year, losing in double overtime in pks, was disappointing but I feel like we made it to the Super Bowl three years in a row and left it all on the field – no regrets.“

Off the field, Frannie ranks in the top 1% of her class of 810 juniors with a 4.43 GPA. She is Founder and President of her campus chapter of Operation Smile and will be travelling to Fortaleza, Brazil this August on a 12 day mission.

“My sister went to Hanoi in November for Operation Smile. It changed her life,” she said. “I’m thankful to have the same opportunity to be a student educator and help the children in the pre-op area. Operation Smile gives kids who are born with facial deformities a chance at a normal life. I’m trying to get donated soccer balls to take with me to play with the kids since futbol is Brazil’s passion.” At school, Frannie was elected to an all-school student government position as Secretary and is also President of her campus chapter of Habitat for Humanity.

The good news doesn’t stop there. A week before her 17th birthday, she received the gift of a lifetime. Frannie verbally committed to play for Yale.

“I couldn’t imagine any other place than to be a part of the soccer family at Yale,” she said. “The coaches, the academic opportunities, the tradition, the commitment to soccer excellence and the exceptional recruits coming in all make it the perfect fit for me.”

It’s not many youth players that have played on both the #1 club team and #1 high school team in the nation. Now, Frannie has set her sights on some unfinished business in Kansas City as she and her Slammers’ teammates pursue a National Championship. Frannie says, “The third time’s the charm!”