GEORGETOWN – Boerne Champion ended a very special girls soccer season last Thursday at Birkelbach Field in Georgetown.
The Lady Chargers competed at the 5A state tournament where Champion earned bronze medals after they were defeated by Grapevine, 6-3, in last Thursday’s state semifinals match.
Champion finishes the year at 20-4-3 and tied for third in the state, something that senior Audrey Riordan is very proud of.
“We made it to state, it doesn’t get much better than that,” she said. “Sure, we wanted to go one more round, but we all played our hearts out until the end.”
Grapevine’s Samantha Lumpkin proved to be a weapon that Champion had a hard time stopping. The junior had the remarkable ability to toss the ball about half the width of the field on her throw-ins and put it right in front of the goal.
Riordan, the team’s goalkeeper, said she knew Lumpkin’s ability on throwins was going to be a problem.
“It’s very impressive, but it’s not the first time we’ve seen it,” she said. “Girls like that have a gymnast background, so they’re very flexible in their shoulders.”
Chargers coach Kara Walters said she scouted the Mustangs and knew about Lumpkin.
“We knew it was coming and that was something we were going to have to defend, but we made some decisions that gave them that opportunity to make those throw ins,” she said.
The Chargers actually scored first in the match on a Nevaeh Garris goal in the 16th minute on the assist from Vivian Garza for the 1-0 lead, but Grapevine recorded the next two goals that were assisted by Lumpkin throw-ins and took a 2-1 lead into halftime.
Walters said once the throw gets in front of the goal anything can happen, especially the way the Mustangs attacked Riordan.
“They were bodying up on our keeper and boxing her in and that was a factor,” the coach said.
In the second half, Grapevine added three more goals and opened up a 5-1 lead, but the Charger fought to the end.
Skyleigh Arnold blasted in a free kick from 40 yards out in the 53rd minute and it was 5-2. Grapevine scored once more and then Reagan Burkey knocked in a loose ball for Champion’s final goal to make it 6-3 in the 71st minute.
Afterwards, Walters said it was a great season with several highlights along the way.
“Definitely beating Drip (in the regional finals) was one of them,” she said. “If not that one, the bus ride home after beating Liberty Hill, it was a turning point in bringing us together.”
Walters added that for BISD to qualify three teams to state says something about how well soccer is played in Boerne.
“I’m so proud of Boerne as a community with three teams making it to the state tournament,” she said. “That says a lot about our whole soccer community. We represented our area and our region really well and I’m proud of that.”
The Lady Chargers will graduate seniors Vivian Garza, Lorenna Garza, Avery Case, Grace McClain, Olivia Farias, Gaby Dellocono, Marisa Matos, Kallyn Zaner, Shelby Christian, Shelby Streicher and Audrey Riordan.
This was the Champion girls fourth appearance at state, having played there in 09, 10, 17 and 22.
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