The Lady Leopard soccer team finished second at the Fort Worth Brewer Tournament held this past weekend in White Settlement.
Gainesville opened play at the tournament Thursday against 4A Cleburne High School. Both teams played a very strong, aggressive match against each other and both had several opportunities to score. The Lady Leopard defense was led by Captain Amanda Eddowes who helped keep the Lady Jackets from capitalizing on any opportunity. All 11 players for GHS helped out on the defensive side of the ball and worked as a true team throughout the entire game. "Its great that even our forwards will come back to help. It shows we are a team and willing to put in the work on both sides of the ball to get the job done," says Coach Heather Medlen.
On the offensive side of the ball, Whytneigh Duffie and Rubi Saenz battled hard against the Cleburne defense, almost breaking through for a goal. The Lady Leopard offense has been relentless this year with their attack and keeping other teams on their heels. In the last seconds of the game, Duffie was taken out on a breakaway but unfortunately the referee called game and the shootout began.
The shootout is a 1 vs. 1 breakaway from 35 yards out against the goalkeeper and each shooter only has 5 seconds to shoot the ball. Marisol Chavez went first for the Lady Leopards and chipped the Cleburne keeper for the lead. Cleburne equalized 2 kickers later. Jordan Garcia was the Lady Leopards 8thkicker and she was able to attack the keeper and blast it past her for the lead. Cleburne was given one more opportunity to tie the game but goalkeeper Alexus Espinosa came up with a huge save to seal the victory.
The win moved the Lady Leopards into the semifinals where they defeated Fort Worth Brewer 2-0 on Friday.
In the championship game, Gainesville fell to No. 10 ranked Birdville 3-0.
Gainesville came out strong in the first half, over-powering the Lady Hawks in the first several minutes. The Lady Leopard offense took early control of the game and caught Birdville off-guard with many opportunities to score. Unfortunately 3 chances deflected off the post and away from goal. Birdville came alive and began putting pressure on the Lady Leopard defense but the girls held strong and never backed down. The first half ended in a 0-0 tie.
"This was a huge accomplishment for us to go into halftime with a 0-0 tie. Last year we were down 7-0 but we are a different team this year and we are trying to prove to everyone that we are for real," says head coach Heather Medlen.
At the start of the second half, there was some confusion and missed defensive assignments in the defensive third and Birdville was able to take an early 1-0 lead. They also scored in the 18th and 23rd minute of the second half to secure the 3-0 victory.
The Lady Leopards are now 7-2 on the season and play at home Tuesday afternoon against Springtown HS.
