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Against all odds: Youth soccer team whose coach was shot Aug. 3 at Walmart plays in championship game

EP fusion soccer team
KVIA
The EP Fusion girls' soccer team huddles during their championship game.

EL PASO, Texas -- Young girls should never have to run for their lives.

The EP Fusion youth soccer team was fundraising for their upcoming season at the Cielo Vista Walmart on the morning of August 3.

That morning, multiple parents were injured and their coach, Luis Calvillo, was shot five times.

“I remember everything," Calvillo said. "From the moment I got shot, to the moment I got to the hospital.”

Calvillo's father, Jorge, was killed that day.

A group of girls brought together through soccer had to deal with unimaginable trauma. Ten girls were there the day of the shooting, each of them escaped without injuries, but their lives are forever altered.

But, the beautiful game is what kept them going.

“They’ve gone through so much and I wish as adults, we were all as resilient as they are," Jessica Garcia said. "They fought through it, this was their therapy."

Garcia's husband, Memo, was shot multiple times. He's the only victim who remains hospitalized.

"I’m trying to be a mom and a wife and a victim myself. Had it not been for this, I don’t know where we would’ve been as a family," Garcia said.

The team rallied, against all odds, and made it to the championship game in its division.

"Even though somebody tried to break us apart, it actually brought us closer together," Calvillo said.

After more than two months in the hospital, he rehabbed and was able to join the team on the sidelines once again.

The team played on Saturday, and quickly found itself trailing 1-0.

In the closing seconds of the game -- magic strikes. The Fusion tie it up, and the game goes to penalties.

Ultimately, the team came up just short. But second place still meant so much for the team which has a second chance at life.

"This was really special to me because of what happened. We still kept playing," player Emylee Calvillo said. "We still -- we weren’t that type of people that would just give up and stop playing.”

The team plans on sticking together next season. They're no longer just friends. They are sisters.

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Mauricio Casillas

El Paso native Mauricio Casillas is a former co-anchor of ABC-7’s Good Morning El Paso.

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