Hounds close out regular season, open soccer playoffs this week

The final playoff spots available in 26-5A were claimed Friday night in soccer on the boys and girls side.

Both Boerne High teams had already clinched a spot, and the boys were locked into second, while the Lady Hounds finished fourth after a loss to New Braunfels on Friday.

The Greyhounds open the playoffs this week and will both go into the 5A-DII bracket. The BHS boys are in action Thursday vs. Liberty Hill at Hays, 8 p.m., while the girls play Friday against Cedar Park at Dripping Springs, 6 p.m.

Varsity Girls

The Boerne girls had already clinched a playoff spot and were either going to finish third or fourth in 26-5A depending on Friday’s outcome vs. New Braunfels.

The Unicorns won last Friday’s match 1-0 and jumped ahead of the Boerne girls in the standings at 9-52, while the Lady Hounds end district play at 9-6-1 (14-8-1 overall).

Smithson Valley won the district at 13-0-3 and Pieper came in second at 13-2-1.

New Braunfels’ 1-0 win over Boerne kept Alamo Heights out of the playoffs after the Mules entered Friday with a chance but needed BHS to win.

Boerne and Pieper will go small school or to the 5A-DII playoffs, while New Braunfels and Smithson Valley will go big school or to the 5A-DII playoffs.

In Friday’s match, it looked like Boerne had tied New Braunfels with a late goal after the Unicorns goalie came close to stepping across the goal-line with the ball, but the official ruled no goal and said the ball was ahead the line and it stayed at 1-0 in favor of NB.

Varsity Boys

Boerne doubled up the Unicorns last Friday, 4-2, and it leaves the Greyhounds at 12-3-1 in district and 14-4-1 overall.

Pieper won the district at 16-0, followed by Boerne. Three other teams – Smithson Valley, Alamo Heights and New Braunfels – all finished with 8 wins. The Rangers took third at 8-5-3 with 27 points, while Alamo Heights and New Braunfels both were 8-6-2.

AH and NB split their two matches, but the Mules won by a wider margin (4-1 vs. 2-0) and take the tiebreaker to get in as the fourth-place team.

BHS and Alamo Heights will go to the small school or the 5A-DII bracket, while Pieper and Smithson Valley will go to the big school or 5A-DI bracket.