July 25, 2024 – USL Super League (USLSL)
Dallas Trinity FC News Release
When Sam Estrada got the call from former coach and General Manager of Dallas Trinity FC Chris Petrucelli, she was driving home from the gym and had no idea what he could call about. He explained to her that there was going to be a professional women’s soccer club in Dallas and that he wanted her on the team. She was ecstatic and immediately said, “Heck yeah, I want to be on the team.” Then she got off the phone and went inside to tell her family.
Estrada grew up with a father who played professionally for FC Dallas, then known as Dallas Burn. Estrada has always wanted to follow in her dad’s footsteps and fell in love with soccer because of him: “I have always wanted to go pro ever since I was little. I always wanted to be like my dad.”
After playing professionally, her dad started coaching, where Estrada would participate in practices with his team. She would go to every soccer event with her dad. “That’s when me and my dad created a bond with soccer. We got my little brother into soccer, and my mom played soccer, so we became a soccer family.”
Estrada started playing soccer when she was only three years old. During this time, she was also doing ballet but ultimately decided that soccer was what she enjoyed more. When she was ten, she started playing competitively in El Paso, where she grew up, “I found my best friends through soccer, and I got really close with my coaches there. It is a tight-knit soccer community which was a great environment to be in.”
When Estrada was twelve years old, she started playing for the New Mexico Rush, and this is when she began to see what her future in soccer could be. After playing for the New Mexico Rush team, she was offered a spot on Texas Rush. It was in The Woodlands, a ten-hour drive from her home and her family in El Paso. She traveled three weeks at a time, living with a host family. When she was 16, she moved to The Woodlands and lived with a host family or coaches while pursuing her dream of playing soccer.
College was not always something that Estrada dreamed about. It was only when she went to the Surf Cup that the goalkeeper coach from Southern Methodist University saw her play. He told her that they wanted her to come to a camp. After that camp, Estrada’s life changed forever. She got the call that SMU wanted to give her a full scholarship to play there. “I remember crying to my dad and saying they really think I am that good.”
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