The Lady Texans tightened their hold on the district race with two more victories in the last week, but it was no walk in the park. They have now extended their lead on first place to five points on the season, but there are many playoff-impactful games yet to be played.
The week started at Canyon Lake where the Wimberley girls’ soccer team nearly lost their first game of the district season.
Canyon Lake scored first taking a 1-0 lead about halfway through the first half before entering a defensive position intent on trying to wait out the rest of the game. It almost worked.
“It is really tough when a team is playing that type of defense,” Head Coach Brinton Nute said. “It isn’t just physically tough, but mentally. It is easy to get frustrated when they have the whole team parked in front of their own goal. The key in those circumstances is to keep playing our own game and remain patient. We went more direct in the second half and had to take more long shots because the team played so deep. We were able to crack them. Teams that defend so deep, it is hard to get into an offensive mode when you have to go into attack. We knew if we could get one, we could go at them and try and get that winner.”
With nine minutes left in the game, Emily Thames finally broke through with a score from the edge of the box. Sela Jones quickly followed after a “barrage of attempts on goal” from Wimberley to win the game 2-1.
The following game on Friday was a 12-0 victory over Great Hearts Northern Oaks.
“Scoring that many goals was great to see; however, we had a discussion before the game about keeping a clean sheet (and not giving up a goal)… It was important to us to keep it clean in the back, and we did a very good job defensively of keeping them out.”
The team’s top two scorers, Thames and Ella Sandoval, each scored four goals apiece. “Maggie Leonard and Mystel Bernal both got one goal each, and they worked really hard for their goals, so it was nice to see them on the score sheet.”
Wimberley leads the district with a 6-0-2 record accounting for 20 points in the standings. A win is counted as three points and a tie one. Davenport is next with 15 points followed by Boerne with 14, Fredericksburg with 13 and Canyon Lake with 11. Bandera and Great Hearts Northern Oaks round out the district. The top four make the playoffs.
Wimberley played Boerne on Tuesday after the Wimberley View’s time of press. The team will be off on Friday before playing Fredericksburg at home on Tuesday, March 8.
