​Sol Survivors (Excerpt)

(Editor's Note: This article was sponsored by Dick's Sporting Goods)

All photos by Anthony Blasko. Words by Tim Struby.

Ashlee Perez, center-midfielder for the Sol U-9 Soccer Club, couldn't believe her luck. It was November 2014, the final seconds of the last game of the Coast Soccer League season were ticking away, and the goalie from the Santa Barbara SC White team had just blocked a shot that bounced straight to her. Instinctively, Ashley set, kicked and boom: Goal! She was swarmed by teammates. They jumped up and down. They high-fived. And as the final whistle blew, the Sol U-9 Soccer Club continued celebrating like they'd just taken home Olympic gold.

The Santa Barbara SC White players stared at them like they were crazy. The Sol girls hadn't won the league title. They hadn't even won the game. In fact, they had just been crushed 8-1, hadn't chalked up a single 'W' in twelve games, and Ashlee's tally was just their third goal of the entire season. But they didn't care what the other teams thought or worry about how badly they'd lost. Just being out on the field was reason to rejoice. And if it weren't for the passion and determination of one woman, the Sol SC team wouldn't have been out there at all.

D'Alary Dalton didn't move to Santa Barbara to change young girls' lives. After finishing her PhD in Education Leadership in 2012, she arrived from the Bay area to take a job as a coach and Administrative Director at the Santa Barbara Soccer Club, a high calibre local program and a member of the U.S. Soccer Development Academy. It was a good fit. Dalton had been coaching the sport for 26 years, and the chance to live and work in Santa Barbara, with all its beauty and charm, not to mention having the Pacific Ocean in her backyard, made the opportunity seem as idyllic as the lyrics of a Beach Boys song.

But Dalton gradually discovered that Santa Barbara wasn't all a postcard paradise, especially when it came to soccer. For one, the Santa Barbara SC girls programs received 2nd class status. "There was no plan, no path for future development on the girls' side," says the 48 year-old. Plus, many young girls couldn't afford to play at all, let alone at a high-end club like SBSC. In many ways, life in Santa Barbara County is a tale of two cities, with one in five residents living below the poverty line. In some lower income neighborhoods, 32 percent of families receive food stamps and the child poverty rate stands at nearly 40 percent.

Dalton was determined to make a difference, so she decided to launch a soccer program at Girls Inc. of Greater Santa Barbara, a chapter of the renowned national program that helps support girls from under-resourced communities. She soon encountered broken homes, malnutrition, and families of six or more living in one-room, converted garages. The inequality was even more glaring when it came to sports. Girls from low-income families had to play on ill-kempt, often make-shift fields. Instead of pristine uniforms and trendy, bright, multi-colored cleats, they took the field in tattered ballet shoes and worn-out jeans. "Players on a lot of the other teams looked like they drank straight vitamins every day," says Dalton.

For more on this story check out here.