Ledes from the Land of Enchantment

Fankam, Hope finds you at the right time

Hope Christian girls soccer coach Amy Fankam speaks to her team during a recent game against Albuquerque Academy at Richard A. Harper Memorial Field. (Mike Sandoval for the journal)

By the time Amy Fankam ended her playing career at Notre Dame, where she was an All-American, she probably could have written her own ticket and trained anywhere she wanted.

“There are times,” she said, “when I wonder if I’ve missed my calling.”

But these times don’t last.

It was a fulfilling journey, she said. She got married, had three children and trained as an assistant trainer at the Albuquerque Academy and Hope Christian. A little less than two years ago, the Huskies asked her to take over her program as she eventually became head coach.

Coaching, she said, was never something that got so under her skin that it evolved into what she calls a full-time job.

And that’s still true to some extent today, as she is the head coach of one of New Mexico’s elite girls’ soccer programs.

“So far it has worked wonderfully,” said Fankam. “I was offered the job and I just love and care about the girls so much that I couldn’t imagine anyone else doing it.”

More than two decades ago she was known as Amy Warner, one of the country’s elite talents at La Cueva – where she played for the still current Bears coach Amber Ashcraft – and later with the Fighting Irish.

She was part of two national championship teams in La Cueva, and next month the Huskies have a chance to give her a title as head coach.

Hope Christian (17-1 after a 10-0 win over Valley on Tuesday) is number 2 in Class 4A behind St. Pius; the Sartans defeated the Huskies 2-1 in the spring finals. Those two could be on a different collision course in the fall playoffs starting next week.

The national tournaments will be announced on Sunday.

Hope Christian’s Ashlyn Salas (22) and Academy’s Ashley Shanks hit the ball during their game at the Academy on October 12th (Mike Sandoval / Journal)

Only one flaw last week at the Academy kept Hope Christian from an unbeaten season.

“I think we’re all just super smart,” said midfielder Hadley Collins, one of only four twelfth graders in the Huskies’ young squad. “It is so important that you trust yourself in this way too.”

Hope will end his regular season against Bernalillo on Thursday. The Huskies are certainly in the top 4 seeds, which comes with a bye in the first round.

Hope Christian’s job is to find a way to climb the last rung of the ladder after this extremely young team was close to doing it in the spring. And this team remains young on paper, but now that’s not an updated description of it.

“Last year we were close, but this year is a longer season so we’ve had more time to get to know each other and to get to know each other,” said sophomore Savanah Sanchez, Hope’s top scorer and one of the state’s most dangerous attacking players. Her two goals on Tuesday bring her 38 so far this fall. “We have talked about it a lot (trying to get back into the championship game). We have to remember (spring) so that we never feel that again. “

The Huskies thrive on their possession game and have a chemistry that everyone says is an integral part of their general DNA.

But beyond skill, there is another factor in the upcoming state tournament, Collins said. “We mustn’t freak out,” she said. “We have to keep our cool”

In the spring, according to Fankam, the huskies were more concerned with St. Pius’s style than with their own.

“We lost a bit of that in the national championship game,” she said. “We have returned to a style of football that we were not as good at as Pius.”

Maintaining that tactical discipline, Fankam said, could make all the difference for Hope in the postseason.

“We feel good, we are confident, we move the ball, we take care of the ball. This is the team that we are,” she said, adding, “Your physical abilities are beyond your years.”

And it’s a team that she believes in with all her heart.

“I think if we play well,” said Fankam with a smile, “nobody can beat us. I would line up against anyone in the state. “

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