TAMPA, Fla. — The Palm Harbor University girls soccer captain Payton Porter may not be able to play the last few games of her final season: she tore her ACL in December in the first half of the champions league final against Tampa Catholic.

What You Need To Know

  • Payton Porter tore her ACL in the Champions League Final

  • Palm Harbor University girls soccer team trains in a fun way while in search for their 7th title

  • The Lady Canes took home the Champions League Tournament title, a tournament new to girls' soccer — it was an all-boys tournament for the past five years

“Me as a player, as a soccer player all my life, I've always been injured by different kinds of injuries," Porter said. "But, it's been able to play through I'm that person that likes to play through injuries and it's rough not having control over this one.”

“It was tough and it was one of those things where you don’t want it to happen to anybody, but if there’s one person that you know can use that negative into a positive and turn it into something that can help this team, it is Payton Porter.” Head Coach Randy Irick said.

Irick said no one can replace Porter on the field.

“I mean, you just don't replace her heart and soul. Not really by one person either. I mean that's what made her the captain,” said Irick.

If you spend just an hour with this team, you will see the hunger and drive to want to bring home the team's 7th title home. They train for it in a fun way.

“We do seven passes, seven goals, everything seven. We have six state championships as of right now and this year, we're all set that it's going to be seven," Porter said. "I fully in my heart believe that it's going to be seven and everything from here on out is going to be seven.”

“All 24 of our girls are going to be the reason why we're successful," Irick said.

The Lady Canes just took home the Champions' League Tournament title, a tournament new to girls' soccer — it was an all-boys tournament for the past five years.

“Being the first champion means a lot to us just being able to say no one can remove that PHU Lady Canes trophy or statement on that trophy," Irick said. "So is the reward that the girls deserved. Now, it's the next step is the number seven state championship.”

PHU is confident that they’ll be able to hoist up that trophy — they are currently undefeated on the season. Porter will be right there, on the sidelines, cheering on her team. 

“To coach these girls through the state championship and be there for them on the field, off the field I'll always be for them, but on the field is a totally different story,” Porter said.

When they were asked what was the driving force of this year's success, they said it was number seven. They do everything in sevens this year and they’ve seen success in that. seven drills, seven passes, seven sprints. They have to get seven goals at practice before they can leave. Their goalie has to get 7 saves. It’s amazing how they adapted to that culture this season. 

Irick said their first game of the season they won 7-1. It was probably not the plan and they know that was luck, but they are putting in hard work every day, every week because they understand that they have a target on their backs.

Irick said everyone wants to beat PHU, they know that, and it's their job to make sure that that doesn’t happen.