Barbara Olivieri wanted to guide her team into the history books.
Heading into the Class 6A state title game, Olivieri and the
Tompkins (Katy, Texas) girls soccer team were undefeated at 26-0 and ranked No. 1 nationally in the
TopDrawerSoccer.com Winter FAB 50. A win would cement a perfect record and possibly etch Tompkins into soccer lore with the top ranking at the end of the season.
However, things didn't go as planned.
Southlake Carroll dominated Tompkins with three goals in the opening 19 minutes and cruised to a 5-0 victory on April 20.
The loss was heartbreaking for Olivieri. The junior put the weight of her team on her shoulders, and they came up just short.
"I think it hurt when it happened, but now we've had time to kind of look back on it and internalize everything, I guess," Tompkins girls soccer coach Jarrett Shipman said. "She's probably very proud in the fact that she's been to a state tournament twice and a state final twice. Yeah, we'd like to win but there's not a lot of people that can say that they've gotten to a state final two out of three years."
The realization of a good season did finally sink in for Olivieri. She was able to embrace the fact her team had a phenomenal run.
"It was a great, great season," said Olivieri, who is an attacking midfielder. "We played some great games. We pushed through games. This is the best team I've been a part of in three years because everyone wanted it as much, and we were all just a family. We worked hard every day and we worked hard for these games."
It stings a little extra that Tompkins could have been crowned the top girls soccer squad in the entire country this year.
"That was definitely hard too because we were in that spot for so long and we needed to like keep it," Olivieri said. "We did well until the last game."
If it wasn't for Olivieri's phenomenal individual season, her team wouldn't have been able to play in its second state title game in her career.
With 31 goals and 16 assists in 27 games, Olivieri was a game-changer.
"She's got an incredible shot, very strong when it comes to that," Shipman said. "Also, her touch is just impeccable -- it's top level. I think that will translate to the college game very easily. She's strong and it's a physical game at the college level."
Barbara Olivieri in action during the Texas Class 6A state championship game --- a disappointing outcome for her Tompkins team.
Photo by: Jim Redman
Olivieri was an all-state selection as well as being chosen District 19-6A offensive MVP. She has also been recognized on the national scale.
Olivieri is one of 250 high school juniors to earn the distinction Allstate All-Americans and will be considered for participation in the Allstate All-America Cup on July 31 in Orlando. The contest will be broadcast on ESPNU and participants will be honored later that night at halftime of MLS All-Star Game.
Former Major League Soccer and U.S. men's national team members Taylor Twellman and Brian McBride will join the likes of former U.S. women's national soccer team standouts and Olympic gold medalists Julie Foudy and Brandi Chastain to coach and mentor these promising high school players at the event.
"She's been incredible," Shipman said. "She does things on the soccer field that I've never seen a female player do. She's an incredibly hard worker in her craft. She's on another level."
Shipman has never witnessed a female soccer player with such touch with the ball and Olivieri's ability to move side to side all the while controlling the ball is exceptional.
"She gets herself in situations and gets out of them," Shipman said. "It's almost like she's Houdini. She also has the ball on her foot – it's just incredible."
Olivieri's hard work in soccer started at a young age. She was 3 when she was making moves with the ball in the yard. By 9, Olivieri had parents of teammates tell her how talented she is.
As a freshman, it didn't take long for Shipman to realize Olivieri's potential. She tallied 18 goals and nine assists in that first season. The next year, Olivieri missed about a month but still notched 10 goals and 12 assists. She had an opportunity she couldn't pass up, playing for Venezuela Under-17 National Team.
Olivieri, whose parents are native Venezuelans, enjoyed the experience of playing against international competition all the while playing up an age level.
"It was amazing because I'd never been to Venezuela, so we just trained there at Margarita Island and then we went to Argentina where the tournament was in San Juan," Olivieri said. "It was crazy. I really enjoyed that so much, especially with a different culture, different people."
With the recruiting process picking up early her freshman season, Olivieri verbally committed to Texas A&M that first year. She'd been attending camps at the school since she was 10 and got to know the coaching staff very well.
Olivieri, who plays club soccer for the Houston-based Albion Hurricanes, didn't have any desire to go out of state for college.
In fact, the 17-year-old is so excited to get to college to play soccer, she'll head to Texas A&M a semester early this coming winter. Olivieri will go to Tompkins the first semester and graduate in December and the following month she'll be on the Aggies' campus practicing with her new teammates.
That will mean Olivieri won't be playing soccer her senior season of high school.
"It was a tough decision because obviously as a senior you want to experience all those senior moments and stuff but then again it's only going to be one semester," Olivieri said. "I can come back for prom and I went to prom this year."
Shipman is looking forward to watching Olivieri make an immediate impact on the field for Texas A&M.
"I think she has the skill set to do so," Shipman said. "Of course, it's college soccer and that's such a huge jump. But I think if anyone can, she has the ability to make some things happen."
Olivieri (jumping) celebrates a goal in the playoffs against Kingwood.
Photo by: Mark Goodman
