The infectious drumline and enthusiastic onlookers collided to create an eventful varsity girls’ soccer game Tuesday night, March 20, against the Pflugerville Panthers at the Warrior Bowl. The Lady Warriors won 1-0.

Prior to the start of the game, the senior Lady Warriors were commemorated for their past contributions. They were accompanied by parents and friends, carrying a bouquet of flowers. All the girls made sure to note that their fellow teammate, #13 Autumn Koch ‘19, who was injured during a home game against Stony Point, was their hero. To top it off, Koch joined her team on the field, fist bumped the referees, and clasped hands with her fellow players for the national anthem.

The game started off in the Warriors’ favor, with a great advancement towards the goal. However the ball was promptly kicked off the field after both teams fought over it. The ball then stayed primarily midfield until the Lady Warriors made another advancement only to be shot down. Both teams on multiple occasions would purposely try to kick the ball off the field to stall, but at one point Christina Stephenson ‘18 saved the ball, passed to Olivia Graves ‘18, who went for the goal, only to be blocked. A little later there was a corner kick from Leah Martinez ‘19 and multiple head or chest bumps from Eve Kubala ‘21 and Leah Zahm ‘20.

Unfortunately there was an aggressive component to the game, resulting in fouls, yellow cards, and injuries. Hailey Martinez ‘21 and Deepti Choudhury ‘21 had to deal with such incidents. Choudhury’s collision caused a stir among the student body, which then made the opposing team member who ran into Choudhury yell back. The dramatic incident escalated when the head referee approached Mr. Acosta about the student body’s involvement.

“I was tweeting about the game, I wasn’t even looking up, the ref came over and asked me to throw out whoever had made the commentary about the opposing team member. I don’t know who it was, it was a whole group actually, and since I didn’t know who it was I really couldn’t do anything about it,” Principal Mario Acosta said. “I don’t really know what was on the ref’s mind to come to me and ask that of me, but I ultimately shrugged it off. I can’t exactly throw out all students in the stands.”

The first half ended with no goals for anyone and frustrated team members. After halftime, the battle at midfield continued. Both teams had their methods of controlling the ball. Even when they didn’t have it, they did not allow the other team to get close to their goal. During that time, Ella Concannon ‘18 had a staggering six head passes back to back, each one receiving a round of applause, and verbal recognition from the student body. Madison Broadbent ‘21 got the opportunity to display her skills as goalie, catching an oncoming ball.

Injury and yellow cards made a reappearance when Concannon and a Panther offender ran into each other. The Panther player did not get up immediately which lead the timer to be stopped. Concannon ended up with a yellow card.  

There were multiple attempted goals and several corner kick opportunities as well, none of which got the Lady Warriors to where they wanted to be. Martinez changed that when the ball came her way and she scored from the 25-yard line.

“I was so happy, it was the last 10 minutes and we were already anxious because we hadn’t scored, so it was exhilarating to get that shot in,” Martinez said. “At that point in the game the ball was close to me and I thought of what coach had told me earlier, which was ‘Hailey we need to score. You have to go for it.’ So I saw the ball and kicked it as hard as I could, not really caring where it went.”

Martinez also earned positive recognition when she kept the ball in the air by kicking it up three times, to keep the ball on the field. The last kick sent it backwards, allowing her team members to continue onward with it.

The game ended 1-0, leaving the Lady Warriors tied with Round Rock for second in district. Catch the girls at Cedar Ridge High School at 7:15 p.m. on Friday, March 23.