By Marin Murray
The girls’ soccer team won the North Crowley Soccer Tournament on Saturday, Jan. 7, after defeating Royse City with a shutout win in the championship game 2-0.
“The tournament went about as well as I could have expected it to go,” first-year head coach Tiffany Van Hoose said. “We were more prepared than I initially thought we would be. It was a good way to kind of ease our way back into the season, get some wins on our back, and get some good team morale going.”
The championship game had the closest score of any game the team has played in thus far in the season.
“I was nervous in the last game, because that’s the closest competition we’ve had,” Van Hoose said. “But it was good to see that no one was giving up early, which was a big thing in the past. It was good to see that everyone was still trying and fighting until the buzzer and that we were able to get another goal towards the end.”
To top it off, the team didn’t lose a game the entire tournament, bringing their record on the season to a perfect 5-0.
“It was pretty good,” senior captain Justine Martinez said. “We were undefeated, and I think we played really well. We connected really well together, just overall as a team.”
The team connection is in large due to the closeness of the team and the trust that exists in each relationship.
“We love each other and have a good time with one another,” Martinez said. “It definitely shoes on the field.”
The Lady Eagles took care of business on both sides of the field, scoring 11 goals and only allowing one. Despite this positive goal differential, there is still room for growth on the field.
“There’s still a lot of things we can improve on,” Van Hoose said. “But we have that winning high that we can take and run with and continue to build off of right now.”
The Lady Eagles will take on Odessa Permian on Tuesday, January 17 before going to play in the Northwest ISD Soccer Tournament later that week.
“There’s a lot of trust and a lot of hope and excitement for what’s to come,” Van Hoose said. “I think everyone’s on board; now it’s just putting all of the pieces together.”
