Marble Falls boys soccer ready for Northeast in bi-district match
CAPTION: Esteban Dominguez is one of the scoring leaders for the Mustangs, who are hosting a bi-district opponent that mirrors them in many ways. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro
The Marble Falls High School boys soccer team welcomes Austin Northeast at 7 p.m. Friday, March 21, in the first round of the Class 4A Division I playoffs.
The reason the Mustangs (14-5-3, 7-1-2 District 26-4A runners-up) are hosting the Raiders (18-2, 15-1 District 25-4A co-champions) is because Marble Falls head coach Ryan Craven won the coin flip for site.
“Hopefully we’ll get a big crowd out there,” he said. “Hopefully we’ll get a big rowdy crowd out there to give our kids a little bit of extra momentum and peace.”
Northeast averages 3.6 goals and 1.5 assists per game. The Raiders have scored 71 goals on the season.
Northeast is led by four juniors. Forward Luis Carlos Vargas has 18 goals and 3 assists, while forward Kevin Gutierrez has 13 goals and 2 assists, and midfielder Roger Amador has 10 goals and 11 assists.
Junior goal keeper Alex Garcia has 11 wins and 2 saves in 20 matches.
“They’re a lot like us,” Craven said. “They play a lot of soccer, they score lots of goals. They dropped down from (Class) 5A. They have a solid midfield. They can play soccer really well. I mean, they’re very similar to us just looking at them.”
He believes the regular season has prepared his Mustangs for what they’ll face in the postseason.
Northeast shares its district title with Austin Achieve. The two teams split the season series with the Raiders winning 3-2 Jan. 14 and the Polar Bears prevailing 4-1 a month later. Northeast currently a seven-match winning streak.
Marble Falls also beat Achieve 3-1 Jan. 7.
“it just kind of gives you a little bit of an insight on we’re pretty evenly matched,” Craven said. “They had 18 wins and 2 losses, they finished second in district, too, just like we did.”
Burnet (7-6-3) finished third in the District 25-4A standings followed by Lago Vista (6-6-4).
Meanwhile the Mustangs finished second behind San Antonio Davenport (8-1-1) and ahead of Fredericksburg (6-3-1) and Bandera (3-6-1).
“I will say that I think our schedule has been more challenging than theirs,” Craven said. “It’s frustrating that we didn’t win district. We’ve played some really tough games, which I think will help us in this game.”
The Mustangs haven’t lost since the 4-3 setback to Fredericksburg Feb. 11 in a match where a player received a red card and had to miss the rest of the contest. Marble Falls played with 10 Mustangs to the Billies’ 11. The Mustangs have either won or tied in eight consecutive matches.
It shows momentum, the coach said.
“We’re eight positive results in the last eight games,” he said. “We haven’t lost in eight straight games, so our team is confident.”
Though it’s the end of spring break, Craven said he wants to see a full house at Mustang Stadium.
“We want a big crowd Friday night,” he said.
The winner will play the winner of the La Vernia-Uvalde contest in the area round of the playoffs.
