Listed as a Top 20 prospect by USA Today and Soccer America, David scored a total of 77 goals and captured the Academic Athletic Association MVP in each of the three years she played at Lincoln High. She transformed a struggling Mustang team into a league runner-up her sophomore year and then into a two-time champion.
Much of the same was expected of her at USF. As the school's best-ever recruit, David was to close the gap between the Dons and West Coast Conference foes Santa Clara and Portland, both top-10 nationally ranked teams.
"Her real strength is as a one-on-one artist," USF coach Jean Paul Verhees said. "She is able to really tease a defender, get by with explosive speed and has a really cold-hearted mentality in her finishing. At the collegiate level that changes some, but we will target her in that same direction."
David recalls in a snap the date in 1997 and the time left on the game clock at Negoesco Stadium when she was tackled from behind with her right foot planted, causing all but one of the anterior cruciate ligaments to tear under her own weight.
David was an active child, so her father put her into athletics to tame her energy. In 1984, Donald found a passion for coaching soccer and was the Assistant Boys’ Varsity Coach at Woodrow Wilson High School. In 1986, he began his head coaching career with the St. Philip’s Bruins where he coached daughter Crystal on an all-boys soccer team. In 1989, Donald began coaching Under 12 San Francisco Viking Girls Traveling team. Donald traveled to various soccer tournaments nationally and internationally with his club teams and won many league and tournament championships, including a national championship at the USA Cup held in Blaine, Minnesota, in 1991.Under the condition that Donald David coach the team, Crystal joined an all-boys squad as a midfielder at the age of 6 and developed her skills. By 12 she moved on to the Vikings, an under-15 traveling girls team that became national champions in her second year with the team. She switched to forward when she joined the Tiburon Tornadoes at 14.
USF was an easy choice. She wanted to stay close to home and had already developed a connection to the Green and Gold after attending both women's and men's games since the ninth grade.
David's freshman goals at USF weren't modest. She was shooting for a WCC championship and conference freshman of the year honors (SFGate). She received Honorable Mention at USF in 2000. She plays for the San Francisco Bay FC Women's Soccer Team.Â
