Albuquerque's New Mexico Rapids girls win first national DPL title
Albuquerque's NM Rapids girls captured the club's first national DPL crown, beating California's AYSO United 08 2-1 in Virginia after a 16-2 bracket run.
The New Mexico Rapids 07/08 girls team brought Albuquerque its first national Development Players League title, edging California’s AYSO United 08, 2-1, in Hampton Roads, Virginia. The win capped a run that had carried the Rapids past semifinal heartbreak in previous years and into the top spot in the country.
The championship game was decided after the Rapids tied the final seconds before halftime and substitute forward Britney Escobar delivered the winning goal. The title came Sunday, June 29, 2026, after New Mexico had beaten IFA New England, 2-0, in the semifinal and then survived one more tight match for the trophy.
The path to Virginia ran through a stretch of dominant regional play. The Rapids swept regular-season matches against teams from Arizona and El Paso, then won a regional DPL showcase tournament in Mesa, Arizona. In bracket play, they outscored opponents from Georgia, Texas and Florida by a combined 16-2, a margin that showed how far the Albuquerque-based group had moved beyond local competition.
That rise was built inside a club that has served Albuquerque and surrounding communities since 2001. New Mexico Rapids Soccer Club fields boys and girls players from ages 4 through 19 and places teams in the Girls Academy, Boys ECNL, USYSA National League Desert Conference and the Duke City Soccer League. The championship roster reflected that local pipeline, with players drawing from Albuquerque-area high schools and college commitments.
Coach Justin Sells, a former University of New Mexico standout who still holds the defunct Lobos men’s program scoring record with 57 goals, has spent years shaping the program. His daughter, Joslin Sells, is a rising Albuquerque High senior. Goalkeeper Ciena Carabajal attends La Cueva and will be a senior in fall 2026, while Kasey Sandoval, a Volcano Vista graduate and UNM signee, and Analyse Healy, a recent Piedra Vista graduate and Lobos commit, added more local depth to the squad.
For Bernalillo County, the title marked more than a trophy case milestone. It showed that girls soccer here can sustain a long development ladder, from neighborhood fields and local leagues to a national final, and that the infrastructure supporting female athletes is producing college-ready players and championship teams on the same path.
This article was produced by Prism’s automated news system from verified source data, official records, and press releases, then run through automated quality and moderation checks before publishing. The system is built and supervised by the people who set the standards it runs under. Read our full AI policy.
Did this article answer your question?
