Soccer storms, stumbles in playoffs
Wimberley High School’s Lady Texan soccer has been successful. Playoffs are now expected as are seeding in the top couple of spots from one of the toughest 4A districts in the state.
This year brought challenges the team had not faced in a while, but there was no quit. New coach? No quit. New strategy? No quit. Injuries? No quit. They bought in, fought back, and stayed in the fight week after week, going into the playoffs as the third seed against Marble Falls. No quit.
After knocking off Marble Falls, the Lady Texans (18-4-2 overall, 8-3-1 district) drew a Uvalde Lobos team (195-1, 10-1-1), finishing first in their district. The teams met at San Antonio’s Gustafson Stadium Tuesday, March 28.
Wimberley got off to a slow start, typical for this season, until they relaxed and began snapping their passes and getting their touches and combinations going. Uvalde had altered their defensive set in order to compensate for Wimberley’s speed coming up the field, leading to difficulties in the Lady Texan offensive end. Not quite midway through the half, lightning in the area caused a suspension, allowing the team to refocus. Soon after the break, Emily Thames got a break on the Lobo back line for the first goal. Within a short while, Jordin Donaldson got the second Wimberley goal off of a corner kick.
“After the lightning delay, it seemed like it was good for us. We were able to get our thoughts gathered and discussed a few things that we saw and what we were just missing out on. So it was kind of a blessing,” shared coach Eric Nichols. “We woke up and saw a different team afterward.”
Four minutes into the second half, another goal put the Lady Texans up 3-0. Thames was able to get an assist through to Ella Sandoval and Ella — much as she has most of the season — found her sister Lilli for another goal.
The Lady Texans led 4-0 with nine minutes left when they were called for a hand ball, allowing for a Uvalde score off of the penalty kick. Four minutes later, Sienna Flores found Haley Lopez to take the lead back to four where the game would conclude, 5-1.
The win pushed the ladies into round three against district foe Davenport High School on Thursday, March 30. Davenport finished second in district over Coach Nichols’ team by virtue of winning the season finale against the Lady Texans, ending the season for Wimberley.
“I’ll be honest, it was the best intensity we’ve come out of to start a game in a long time,” said Nichols. “We were combining well; we were finding Lilli quite often down the right side. We were just wide on a number of shots, and we were slow on the backside run on a few more. It was one of those games where the ball didn’t bounce our way or didn’t slow up just right for us, or we had too much curve.”
Nichols reflected on highlights of the season and the hard work put in by the team to find the silver lining.
“I was proud of their season,” he said. “The girls didn’t want it to end, of course, and neither did I. But 19 wins is not a bad season at all. Now is a time to get through this rough spot, mourning our season, then celebrate the success.”
The Lady Texans close out the season with a 194-2 record overall and 8-3-1 in district.