High expectations for girls’ soccer

Brinton Nute, coach of the Wimberley High School girls’ soccer team, sat down recently for an interview about the season and his expectations for his team in District 24A play.

“I hate that mental attitude of a coach saying, ‘We’ll take as much as we can get out of the game,’ Coach Nute,” said. “I want my team to enter every game with the attitude that we will win that game.” With that attitude in mind, the Texan girls have raced to an outstanding record of 16-2-1 and already won two of their crucial district games. “If we can stay injury free and get into the bi-district playoffs, we’ll have reached our first major goal,” Nute says.

Asked how his team is fairing with injuries, Nute listed a few problems and some recoveries. “Holly Harwood, our leading goal scorer, is still a question mark from game to game. She’s definitely not as strong as we’d like and not as strong as she showed in the Fredericksburg game. She was definitely limited in the last four minutes of that game.”

But, on a team stacked with talent from sophomores to seniors, an injury sometimes gives other players chances on the field, perhaps even to excel. Such is the case with freshmen Mystel Bernal, Lexie Howell and Loralei Clapper who got field time in the Canyon Lake game. “They put in mature performances for their age,” the coach commented.

“Bandera is stronger than they’ve been in previous years due to some more skilled move-in players plus they were basically an underclass team last year. Their record is 7-5-1 which is drastically better than previous seasons. We had expected them to give us a good game. Luckily, the game was on our field so we didn’t have to play on the grass and dirt field at Bandera. That field is also very narrow which restricts an attacking team with fast forwards such as Wimberley.

“Our first target is to qualify for the bi-district playoffs and right now our Texans seem to be doing rather well. Moving on to regional play is more a matter of where and what teams we get in the crossover bi-district games,” Nute explains. “Our ship is steady right now and we’re four months into the season but just getting to the tournaments. At this point it’s more about keeping the players healthy and using the time to recover completely.”

In their first district game, the Texan girls beat Canyon Lake 3-1 on February 19 then got a Friday break before hosting Bandera on February 26. This Friday, March 1, the Texan girls will play at always tough Fredericksburg before playing a rare four games in a row at home against Bandera, Fredericksburg, Boerne and Canyon Lake.