CORPUS CHRISTI – Even though the Champion girls soccer team had lost twice to Dripping Springs this season, Chargers coach Kara Walters was confident that her team could catch the Tigers by the tail if they faced them a third time.
Champion got its chance last Saturday in Corpus Christi at Cabaniss Field and faced Dripping Springs in the Region IV-5A championship match for their third meeting of the year.
Walters was right and the
Lady Chargers prevailed, but it wasn’t easy after the match went two extra periods before going to a shootout where Champion eliminated the defending 5A state champs.
The official score goes down as 2-1 for the Lady Chargers (20-3-3) who will face Grapevine on Thursday in the state semifinals in Georgetown at 12 p.m.
Walters didn’t have to look any further than the Champion boys basketball team as an example of a team that lost to an opponent twice in the regular season before beating them in their third meeting in the playoffs, something the Chargers did against Veterans Memorial.
That’s why Walters had some of the basketball players speak to her squad before the regional tournament.
“They talked about why they were successful and how they came together as a team,” she said.
Walters said when a team faces another for a third time in a year, there aren’t many secrets or surprises.
In Saturday’s match, Drip took a 1-0 lead in the first half, but the Chargers had the wind in the second half and capitalized on it when Nevaeh Garris knocked in the equalizer on the Addison Huber assist to knot it up at 1-1.
From there it went to overtime where they played two 10-minute halves and when nobody scored there, it went to a shootout.
Champion made its first two penalty kicks and Drip missed its first two to give the Chargers a 2-0 advantage in the shootout.
Both Champion and Drip made kick No. 3 to make it 3-1. The Tigers converted its fourth kick and it was 3-2 but Champion’s Kallyn Zaner made the team’s fourth kick to put them up 4-2 and end it because there was only one kick left and the Chargers were ahead by two.
Walters said she didn’t know if Zaner’s kick went in at first.
“I couldn’t tell because it got blocked and rolled off the top of the keepers fingers to the corner,” the coach said.
It was ruled in and the Chargers prevailed. Vivian Garza, Addison Huber and Lorenna Garza also converted their PKs, along with Zaner in the shootout as Champion went 4 for 4.
Charger goalie Audrey Riordan finished with 13 saves in the match.
Vs. McAllen
Champion won in Friday’s regional semis match, 4-2. The Chargers were up 2-0 and 3-1 but the Bulldogs kept fighting back. McAllen dedicated this season to a teammate who passed away while playing soccer last summer.
Because of that, Addison Huber said she knew they weren’t going to go away easy.
“We knew this team was going to keep fighting,” she said. “Every opportunity was going to be a big one because this team was good and they fought hard. We knew every time we had a corner, we had to capitalize on it.”
And they did.
A Huber corner kick was knocked in by Mack Arendall in the first five minutes. From there, Emily Peters blasted one in from 30 yards for the 2-0 lead but McAllen scored late in the first half.
The Chargers had the final score of the half off another Huber corner kick. It looked like the kick might bend in on its own but Skyleigh Arnold gave it some help and knocked it in for the 3-1 advantage.
McAllen converted a PK early in the third to make it 3-2 but Arendall knocked in the backbreaker on a break away with just over a minute left.
5A GIRLS STATE SEMIFINALS THURSDAY, APRIL 14, CHAMPION VS. GRAPEVINE, AT 12 P.M.
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