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The TFCA 00 Alliance girls soccer team is ranked #1 in the state and is one of the top ranked club teams in the nation. Six of the young women have been playing together for five years and this year several more were added. According to manager Beth Roach, there are a few specific qualities that have made the team so successful. One is attitude. Her daughter, Mackenzie, agrees.
“We’re always really supportive of each other. We try hard not to be negative on the field and that really helps.”
The weighted average GPA of the team is above 4.0 according to Roach, and many of the girls attend the same schools. She calls them “high-aspiration girls.”
Coach Tom Misuraca played professionally in his younger days and has been a part of the team for three years. Misuraca credits the team’s cohesiveness for their success.
“That’s what I like about it. Because you don’t have to worry about coaching individuals; trying to get them to work with everybody. They’re working as a unit. And once you have that team-aspect part, the coaching is just tactical stuff.”
Mackenzie Roach says she and her teammates think of Misuraca like a dad. He calls them his “faves.”
“He gets all up in our business.” says Maddie Myott. “He cares about us personally and not just as a number. That makes me happy to be on the team and makes us want to work harder.”
The 00s have not been without their challenges. In one of the last games of the State Cup, three of the starters were down with injuries and three new players were added. In spite of this and the high stakes involved with that particular game, the team quickly integrated the new players into the team, coached them on the field and went on to win against Knoxville’s toughest FC Alliance team, despite getting beat up in the process.
“It’s the chemistry,” says Misuraca. “It’s just fantastic.”