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YAHOO Sports Story on Ursuline Winning US Record 21st State Title

Wed Feb 23 09:03am EST

School wins 21st straight state title, setting U.S. record ... or does it?
By Cameron Smith

You'll have to forgive the Ursuline (Texas) Academy girls soccer program if it feels a little aggrieved, despite winning what should be a national-record 21st straight state title on Saturday. The Bears have good reason to be upset: Despite the fact that their 21 consecutive titles is a national record, it's not being credited as a nationwide mark because of the association in which Ursuline competes.

As pointed out by the Dallas Morning News' Corbett Smith, Ursuline competes in the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools -- TAPPS -- just as all other private schools across the state do. That stands in sharp contrast to most states across the country, which integrate public schools and private schools in the same athletic governing body.

As it turns out, in states that have separate public and private athletic organizations, only the public leagues are considered when determining historic records. Therefore, the 21 trophies currently ensconced in the Ursuline athletic facilities are worth little more than two decades of bragging rights over other all-girls schools, according to the folks at the National Sports Record Book.

According to Smith, Portland (Ore.) Catlin Gable High holds the record for most consecutive girls soccer titles with 11. That's right, the current record-holders have been outdone by the Bears by a whopping decade worth of state titles, yet are still recognized as the most successful streak-owning girls soccer program in the nation.

If there was any question that Ursuline was deserving of recognition, the Bears likely answered those questions in their title-game victory. After falling behind by a goal in the early moments, Ursuline responded with four consecutive goals to run roughshod over runner-up Fort Worth (Texas) Nolan Catholic School, 4-1.

"At this point in the season it's more about emotion then about technical or tactical play," Ursuline coach Jamie Cantrell told the Morning News. "We knew if we got down one, we trained for it."

At that point in the season, Cantrell's team has known exactly what to do time and again. It's just time that the rest of the country acknowledged its greatness.

2011 SHOWCASE VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS

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Congrats to this years participants and congrats to Ursuline Academy who won their 21st State Title and to Nolan Catholic who was State-Runner Up to Ursuline for the 11th straight year. Congrats to Hockaday who took the SPC Title.

St. Thomas Aquinas finished as Florida Class 5A state champion. Sarah Guensler and Ana Cuffia scored as St. Thomas Aquinas beat Newsome, 2-0, in the state final. The Raiders outscored opponents 146-2 with 24 shutouts by senior Hofstra signee Julia Kantor. One of the goals allowed came in their only defeat, a 1-0 loss to San Clemente (San Clemente, Calif.). Aquinas holds victories over Texas power McKinney Boyd (McKinney, Texas).

San Clemente look ahead to a CIF Title as they opened the first round of the playoffs with a 5-0 win over Orange Lutheran. San Clemente faces Yucaipa tonight.

All the other Texas public schools are in the middle of district play and we wish each and everyone of you the best as the season moves on.