Marble Falls girls soccer to face Boerne in playoffs

CAPTION: Marble Falls’ Cali Brydon is in a foot race for the ball for the win against Brownwood March 20. Photo by Ernesto Rivera

The Marble Falls High School girls soccer team will meet Boerne High for a bi-district title at 6 p.m. Monday, March 25, at Dripping Springs High School.

The Lady Hounds (17-1-3, 7-1-2) are the District 26-4A co-champions with San Antonio Davenport.

“In that district, if you look at the matchups, they’re even,” Marble Falls head coach Abigail Blunt said. “They’re in one of the toughest districts. They’re a solid team.”

The Lady Mustangs (9-3, third in District 25-4A) are entering the postseason after a 1-0 win against Brownwood in a warm-up match March 20.

The Lady Lions kept the pressure on Marble Falls, especially in the final 15 minutes of the contest by applying an offensive attack on the Lady Mustangs’ goal.

One shot attempt forced goalie Mia Trejo to stretch to her right to keep the ball out of the net that caused her teammates to cheer and jump for joy.

With about two minutes remaining, Brownwood was awarded a free kick fairly close to the goal, and the Lady Mustangs ensured the Lady Lions didn’t score.

As the final seconds ticked off and Brownwood furiously worked to get a good shot at the goal, Marble Falls didn’t let up on the defensive commitment.

Blunt noted the warm-up contest gave her players what she wanted.

“They worked,” she said. “They knew our touch was a little off. We remembered the little things about our team and ‘Ok, this makes a difference.’ We had to play defense more and adjust more than usual. It helped us a ton. They made us work. They made us think.”

The lone goal was scored by Hannah Welch and assisted by Miley Bolanos with about 15 minutes left in the first half.

Blunt noted the Brownwood center midfielder played well and its goalie made numerous saves. This contest, she added, copies what Marble Falls will face in the postseason where every team has a solid offensive attack, a stingy goalie and a defense that doesn’t yield goals easily. There may be a total of 3 goals scored in a postseason match.

“You need a team that’s going to challenge you,” she said. “When they reached out to us, I was excited. Scores are tighter, they’re competitive. We needed to face a competitive team that will give us a challenge.”

Since it was a warm-up match, Blunt installed a different offense, one the Lady Mustangs hadn’t practiced.

“They did decent,” she said. “They’re very adaptable and smart enough to figure it out. They understand the principles.”

While Trejo’s save late in the match drew several cheers, the coach said it wasn’t the goalie’s only one.

“Mia made several incredible saves, which were amazing,” she said. “They celebrate each other. When a teammate does something good or incredible, they’re going to cheer. It shows. They do support each other.”

Spring Break, Blunt said, came at good time for her team because it gave them some time off.

“We look healthier,” she said. “We rotated a lot (against Brownwood) to make sure we were good. They helped prepare us. We were getting back into shape.”

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CAPTION: Marble Falls’ Briseah Rivera prepares for the Brownwood bump during a warm-up match March 20. Photo by Ernesto Rivera