Lincoln graduate Joe Gonzalez also became the first Dallas ISD student to receive an international soccer scholarship to the University of Central Lancashire in England, where he’ll play for Macclesfield FC.

Frisco and Prosper, two school districts located near the base of some of the top club soccer programs in the country, both have a median income of $143,176 and $195,281, respectively, compared to a median income of $74,312 for families in Dallas ISD.

With the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the United States and the country planning to bid for the 2031 Women’s World Cup, some believe this is a vital time to expand soccer’s grassroots reach and capitalize on the groundswell of hype and create the next generation of fans and players.

Marisela Lopez has been at the helm of Dallas ISD’s efforts to grow her favorite sport and expand access to more students since 2021, when the Sunset girls coach was promoted to assistant athletic director and primarily tasked with soccer. Pinkston and Bryan Adams’ playoff runs were the truest evidence her plan was on the right track.

“We all had the same goals to do more for Dallas ISD soccer,” Lopez said. “Not because the other ADs didn’t know what to do, but because I don’t think they had the resources or the connections for what to do for soccer.”

Lopez, a native El Pasoan, made it a point to have coaches in the district get licensed through U.S. Soccer. She hosted grassroots training sessions for high school and middle school coaches that connected her to U.S. Soccer and allowed her to bring that network to Dallas ISD via coaching clinics and physical education curriculums that start as early as elementary school. Even if you aren’t playing through a school, the initiative is meant to just increase access to the sport to where the sport is just part of Dallas ISD’s identity by the time you graduate.

“We would get together and go play at an open-play or the coaches would even push us to go in an open field,” said Northwestern Oklahoma State junior midfielder and 2024 Sunset graduate Jazelle Alvarado. “You guys can get a team together and go out there and play yourselves and it was no cost, which is great because some of these people or players and kids don’t have the opportunity to do that.

“They were really big about just getting people out there and letting them express themselves in different ways.”

The priority isn’t just to cater to the top athletes, but to expand the game’s footprint as a whole across the entire district. Some Dallas ISD programs have two to three JV teams in addition to varsity. The point is just to keep them playing and give them the platform to do so.

“Anybody that wants to play, let’s not cut them,” said assistant superintendent of athletics Vicente Reyes. “Let’s let them come out and play. Now, when you get to varsity, that’s big time, so we’re playing for championships there. But those sub-varsity teams, let’s get them out there. Let’s get them playing and the reason is because you drive around our neighborhoods, and the kids are out there playing soccer anyway.”

But perhaps most important, she expanded access to club soccer for students who couldn’t afford it by starting the nonprofit Dallas Athletics Club in 2021.

Lopez first had the idea for the club in 2019, when she took the Sunset girls soccer team she coached to France and Spain. In summer, the girls also have a futsal team comprised of players from around the district.

“My goal was for the kids that can’t afford it in all of Dallas ISD,” Lopez said. “You’ll be amazed how many kids, that are really good, can’t afford that.”

By the time Reyes joined the district in 2023, Lopez’s soccer initiative was in action and all he had to do was make sure she had what she needed.

“The purpose is to get these kids ready for high-level competitive soccer to win,” Reyes said. “At the end of the day, in Dallas ISD, our tag line is ‘Play Big in Dallas’ and that’s what we’re gearing our kids up for.

“She’s a soccer fanatic, and that’s exactly what we needed. We needed someone in the role that embraced the sport and took off with it.”

In summer 2024, the club played abroad in Argentina. The coaches are volunteers so there’s no coaching fees and players only have to pay for the flight. Fundraisers, sponsorships, donations covered the rest. They plan to take their boys and girls teams to Germany in 2027. 

Lopez also started an annual Dallas ISD soccer showcase in 2024 for colleges to scout seniors. 

“It can be hard just to get into the recruiting process and getting your name out there, not having those connections,” Alvarado said. “Having that was really helpful because it really got our name out there and really put us in front of college coaches.”

In the past, the district has partnered with the Dallas Sidekicks, and this spring, Dallas Trinity FC players helped coach the girls during the showcase.

“The better footing and better foundation at the ISD with young players, benefits Trinity,” said Dallas Trinity FC founder and president Charlie Neil. “We are trying to grow the game, we’re trying to help improve the game, but also those who are leaning in and learning and loving the game will hopefully become fans of our team.”

Neither Pinkston nor Bryan Adams had players this year who traveled abroad as part of the Dallas Athletics Club, but their success and fan support last season demonstrate how the environment around soccer within the district has changed, boosted by a vibrant yet often overlooked majority demographic.

Dallas ISD often gets typecast as a predominantly Black school district. Its best sports — football, basketball and track and field — are spearheaded by some of the top Black athletes in Texas. The teams are of course open to all students, but the district is 71.2% Hispanic, and both varsity soccer teams that played deep into the playoffs were majority Hispanic as well.

“Because of the role that soccer plays in in the Latino community, and when we say Latino community in Dallas, we’re talking Mexico, Honduras, Salvador, Panama, Guatemala,” Reyes said. “We are well represented as far as Latin America is concerned, and we we’re proud of that and so because of the cultural significance of football in the Latino community, now we just needed to provide an opportunity for the kids to embrace it.”

The district is proud of the platform that its success in football and basketball has given the entire Dallas area, but now players and coaches alike are embracing the potential role that soccer could play in that as well. Basketball is a sport a lot of students casually play in their spare time outside of school and, for a lot of students, soccer exists on that same recreational plane. 

“That’s the reason I came to this school,” Pinkston head boys soccer coach Daniel Cruz said. “The main reason was to represent my Latino community, my Hispanic community and show that we also compete at the high level.”

Lopez says her eventual goal is obviously a state championship for the district, in girls or boys, but to also eventually see local teams like Trinity and, soon-to-be Atletico Dallas, pull talent from the schools as well that eventually creates a potential pipeline to the national team.

For Reyes, he hopes to see the district’s reputation grow similarly to that of basketball.

“If you’re going to win state championship basketball, you’re gonna have to go through a Dallas ISD school,” Reyes said. “That’s what I want for all our sports in this particular case.

“When you look at the playoff bracket and you see you got a Dallas ISD school, you go ‘God, it’s gonna be tough, and more than likely, I’m gonna be out one and done because I’m playing the Dallas ISD school.’”