The Carolina Cardinals women's football team had a short lifespan.

Set to play in the Independent Women's Football League in 2006, the Greensboro-based club played just one game — a 48-0 loss to the Orlando Mayhem — because its financial backing was withdrawn.

Submitted photo (ENLARGE)

Sara Cavenaugh (center), a graduate of Northeastern High School, suited up for the Carolina Phoenix of the Independent Women's Football League during the 2007 season. The Greensboro-based club is a player-owned team. Cavenaugh, who played center, joined the team in 2006, when it was known as the Carolina Cardinals.

Submitted photo (ENLARGE)

Sara Cavenaugh

"Our previous owner was a little less than honorable with his intentions, I guess," coach Tim Holmes said. "We never got to carry out the first season."

That is when a group of six players, including Northeastern High School alum Sara Cavenaugh, decided to take matters into their own hands. The players decided they would own the team themselves and play in 2007.

"Several of these women had been through this before with football teams in the area," Cavenaugh said. "They just felt they were mismanaged in one way or another. We decided we were going to own ourselves, and we have been making it a go ever since.

"We wanted to play ball, we didn't care about making money."

Cavenaugh joined the team in 2006 after looking for a way to get fit.

"I was 31 years old, and I realized that I was kind of tired of the way I'm living my life," Cavenaugh said. "I was getting up, going to work — big deal — coming home. It was getting kind of boring and I was incredibly out of shape. I decided that I wanted to do something."

She had no formal background in sports, though she had played basketball in church leagues and tried fencing for a while. She said she really likes team sports and it helps to keep her motivated.

"I just can't work out for the sake of working out," Cavenaugh said. "I just find that incredibly boring. I can't see myself on a stationary bicycle like a hamster. The only thing that comes to my mind is 'Oh my God, I'm living like a rodent.'"

When she came out for the team, Holmes saw potential in Cavenaugh. It has worked out well for all concerned, as Cavenaugh has lost about 70 pounds since starting play and the team has gained a starting center.

"The last owner really didn't want her to play," Holmes said. "But I'm not turning away anyone, and she had pretty good feet for her size, so I knew I could use her. She just committed to the work and she listened to the things I asked her to do. She's continually getting better."

"I'm finding myself feeling better and wanting to do more," Cavenaugh said.

Cavenaugh is making contributions off the field as well. In addition to being one of the co-owners, she is the go-between for her team with the league.

"Sara is our delegate (to the IWFL) as well as our starting center," Holmes said. "So she's kind of the cornerstone of the franchise."

This year, the Phoenix played six games as an X-team in the IWFL. After losing their opener to Shreveport, 24-6, the Phoenix ran off five straight wins. The final three wins came on the road, victories over the Detroit Predators, Delaware Griffins and Cape Fear Thunder by a combined score of 77-6.

Cavenaugh gives a lot of the credit for the team's success to Holmes.

"The coach is absolutely fabulous," Cavenaugh said. "He has been around football for all of his life. He has this philosophy that he doesn't teach us women's football, he teaches us football, period. Within a year's time, it's not that I know football really well, but I know enough to do my part and I do my part very well."

Holmes, in turn, credits the dedication of the small group of women on the team. He stated the roster was at 13 players at one point, leaving the team perilously close to not having enough players to field a team.

"(The league) really didn't want us to play because of the injury factor," Holmes said. "They told us we wouldn't win any games. We told them we wanted to do it anyway and the let us in. They sent us on some pretty long road trips to kind of fill in. I guess they assumed we'd be just some kind of fodder. But with my football background and the character of the ladies, I knew we'd win games."

The team met the challenge of playing the season with the small squad head-on. In fact, Cavenaugh rather enjoyed it.

"One of the things that was really cool about this year was that we never broke our roster above 16 this year and we went up against full-rostered teams and still beat them," she said. "We were playing both sides of the ball and it was fun. It was a blast."

Heading into next season, the Phoenix hopes to become a full member of the league. But the team has to get new members and additional sponsorships. Holmes says the team had about 20 prospective players at their first offseason activity and that the team has been in contact with businesses about sponsorships.

"They can see we went 5-1 and everybody likes to back a winner," Holmes said.

He also said if they can't raise the money to fund the team, the players would pitch in and do fund the team themselves, as they did this year.

As Cavenaugh says, they don't play the sport for the money.

"We don't get the sponsorships, we don't get the money," she said. "We do it for the love of the sport."