Marble Falls boys soccer turns attention to district play
CAPTION: Marble Falls head coach Rick Hoover (front) and varsity assistant coach Chuck Wood (right) are continuing to emphasis to their players to compete to the standards of the program. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro
The Marble Falls High School boys soccer team will begin defense of its District 25-4A championship by visiting Lago Vista at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 23.
The Vikings (4-8-2) enter the match on a four-match losing streak after winning three in a row and a tie.
Mustangs (7-2) head coach Rick Hoover said he and the coaches are keep stressing the same message — play to the standards of the program.
“You’re one mistake away from being in trouble,” he said. “Their starting 11 will give us a good challenge. The kids are expecting to win. That’ll be the challenge. Our challenge will be to play Mustang soccer. If we do that, we’ll be just fine.”
He noted that Lago Vista continues to draw families, many of which have children who are not teenagers yet.
“The growth is there,” he said. “It just hasn’t made it to the high school yet. Club soccer is big in that area.”
Marble Falls enters this contest after beating Austin Crockett 6-2 Jan. 19.
Hoover noted the Cougars challenged the Mustangs throughout the first half and ensured they didn’t get an open look at the goal.
“It was 0-0 for about 22 minutes into the game before we scored,” he said. “We couldn’t get the final shot off. The score going into the half was 2-1. In the second half, we got things rolling. Our offense was hitting on all cylinders in the second half. Our offensive attack overwhelmed their back line. (Crockett) scored toward the end. Their offensive attack was very good. It kept us defensively on our game. You score two goals in a game, you’re in the game.”
Kash Bussaratorn scored twice, including on a penalty kick, while Esteban Dominguez, Ivan Espino, Garrett Goggans and Yoel Gutierrez also scored. Joaquin Aguilar, Charlie Brantley, Seth Parker, Dominguez and Espino had the assists.
Marble Falls may be taking an unexpected bye on Friday, Jan. 26. Austin Kipp contacted Hoover Jan. 22 to say the team needed to cancel the match. So Hoover has been on the hunt for a replacement.
“(Kipp) plays a rogue schedule,” Hoover said. “We went 1-1 with them last year. Both games were a battle to the end. I spent the day scrambling to find someone to play. Most every (team) is in district play. I put it out there. We’ll see.”
Though the Mustangs may not play Jan. 26, Hoover looked ahead to the non-district home match against Kennedale, which is Tuesday, Jan. 30. Because of the distance between the two programs, coaches agreed to play one match featuring the varsities.
And they agreed to start the contest at 3:30 p.m.
“They are a top (Class) 4A team in the Dallas-Fort Worth area,” Hoover said. “They have trouble finding teams to play. Their coaches reached out to me in November. I didn’t think his would let him travel on a Tuesday. By playing early, they can be back on the road by 5 p.m. and get their kids back at a normal time.”
That also allows the Marble Falls student body and other entities that are part of American football games to attend since it will be played right after school. Hoover is looking forward to the match and hopes the crowd will be give the Mustangs a homefield advantage.
“It should be a cool atmosphere,” he said. “It’ll be fun.”
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