YULEE, FL – It's been a season to remember for the Yulee girls soccer team, both on and off the field. The Lady Hornets just wrapped up one of the more successful seasons in program history with a record of 11-4-2. But this group of girls is even more committed to helping others.
"We played a couple of schools in Jacksonville and we noticed they didn't have cleats," said senior Jennifer Portillo. "Some of them played with just regular tennis shoes. We just thought it would be a good idea to donate some of our old pairs and just help out."
Throughout the course of the season, the girls have donated old equipment to underprivileged teams, anything from cleats to shin guards to apparel.
"It was kind of a wakeup call for my girls to see that there are girls out there who genuinely love the game of soccer and don't have cleats," said head coach Ashley Murray. "What if we could just get a whole bunch of equipment together and donate to these girls? What better way to give than to help someone play a sport they love."
Now the girls are hoping to work with other schools in the area to donate even more gear in the future.
"I would love to do this, continue the tradition," said Murray. "And I'm hoping for it to grow. And hopefully someone sees this and their school gets involved and they want to help out. We would love to take this city-wide and maybe even donate internationally."