“It was probably the most exciting game I’ve ever been a part of in the six years I’ve been in Wimberley,” Wimberley Girls’ Soccer Coach Brinton Nute said.
The game was against Davenport, a team that Wimberley beat a few weeks ago and tied earlier in the season. The season was on the line in the Regional Quarterfinals. It was a rare home playoff game. The raucous crowd was behind the home team.
“I turned around a few times, and it was more like a November football game,” Nute said. “It was an incredible feeling, and I know the team fed off of that.”
Earlier in the week, Wimberley defeated Pleasanton 3-0 to advance in the playoffs. They did so without one of their star players as Emily Thames was dealing with an injury. While it obviously changed the style of play for the Lady Texans, other players stepped up to fill the void. Ella Sandoval scored once and Izzy Franchione scored twice – all in the last 20 minutes of the game – to seal the victory. However, against the stiffer competition of Davenport, Thames’ absence early in the game was still noticeable.
“She was standing right behind me telling me ‘Coach, I can play. I want to play. Put me in,’” Nute said. The plan was to wait for the right moment to unleash one of last year’s All-State players. With Wimberley down 1-0 early, it was time.
“The introduction of Emily into the lineup injected a lease of life into the team,” Nute said. “We came out in the second half knowing our season was on the line, and we played like it. We played with passion and energy and we were driven by the biggest crowd I’ve seen at a Wimberley soccer game.”
With 30 minutes left in the game, Thames broke loose on the right side and struck gold with a shot to the top right hand corner of the goal to tie the game up at 1-1. From there, both teams had their chances dominating the ball in the opposition’s field of play, but the defenses held. In the event of a tie, two 10-minute overtime periods are scheduled. If it is still tied at the end, the game goes to penalty kicks. As the clock wound down on the second overtime period, the game was still tied. With under a minute remaining, Nute began to discuss who would take the penalty kicks for the team.
Thames had other plans.
Haley Lopez hit a shot from outside of the box that was thwarted by the crossbar. It rebounded out to the edge of the box where Thames hammered it home from 12 yards out. The crowd, and the team, went wild.
Wimberley had to gather its composure to hold off Davenport for the final 54 seconds of overtime, but the team was able to do so taking a 2-1 victory.
“I think this shows the character of Emily,” Nute said. “In both games she was pestering me to play… How much she means to the squad – not just her athletic ability, but what she does for our team when she is on the field leading the team. She is an unbelievable athlete, but she is also a great student and a pleasure to coach and someone who leads this team really well.”
In storybook fashion, the win over Davenport sets up a rematch. Wimberley will play Calallen, the team that knocked the Lady Texans out of the playoffs last season 4-3 one game shy of the state tournament before losing in the state finals themselves. Much like last season, Calallen comes into the game on an impressive streak. They have not allowed a goal to be scored against them in the last 17 games. On the season, they have scored 182 goals and allowed 12. All four of their losses on the season are to larger 5A and 6A schools.
“The girls are relishing the opportunity,” Nute said. “They understand what happened last year and how close we were in making it to state. We feel we have some unfinished business. In our opinion, we feel they haven’t met someone of our caliber this year, and we feel we can give them a good account.”
The game will be played on Friday in Corpus Christi in the Regional Semifinals. The winner will play the winner of the district foe Boerne and Santa Gertrudis Academy in the Regional Finals with a chance to make it to the State Tournament.
