Posted: Tue, 12 Apr 2011 04:44 PM - 9,844 Readers
By: The Boerne Star
photography by Kerry Barboza Take two great defensive teams and add a notorious Gulf Coast breeze to the mix and scoring definitely wasn't going to be easy during Saturday's Region IV-4A girls title game between Boerne Champion and Cedar Park Vista Ridge.
As the match wore on, the Rangers got the break they needed and knocked in the only goal of the game in the 52nd minute.
Champion applied some pressure late, but couldn't get on the board and fell in the finals 1-0. This is first time since the school opened that the Champion girls team isn't the regional champs.
Chargers coach Samara Weinstein said she knew Saturday's game would be low scoring and one goal would probably win it.
"It was a very balanced game," she said. "We both had our chances and they got their one. That's what it came down to."
For sophomore Julie Essick, Saturday's loss hurts more than losing in the championship game at last year's state tournament.
"This year our whole team wanted it, every one put their hearts into this game," she said. "Last year (at the state tournament) it felt like we gave up some, but this game everyone pushed, even down to the last second we were playing our hardest. I did not see one person on the field that did not want to win this and that's why it hurts so much more."
Weinstein said she couldn't have asked for more effort from her team. She said they overcome so much adversity just to get to the regional tournament.
"We were hit with injury after injury and other things," she said. "And then we started the season with seven ties."
Saturday's loss snaps Champion's 13-match winning streak and ends their year with a 17-2-7 record.
Saturday's defeat was technically only their second loss of the year, not counting the Lake Travis win over the Chargers the Lady Cavs had to forfeit. Champion did beat Lake Travis in the playoffs though.
The Chargers will graduate some very talented seniors. The five seniors are Katie Haltiwanger, Karis Watts, Morgan Glick, Cassie Lange and Megan Fuentes.
They do return a good nucleus.
"I wish we could have won this year," Essick said. "I still have two more chances and I hope we can do it."
Champion 2, Flour Bluff 1
For the third straight year, Boerne Champion has met Flour Bluff at the regional tournament and for the third straight year, the Chargers have been able to defeat the Lady Hornets.
However, Friday's victory in the semifinals was a little bit tougher for the Chargers than it was the last two years. After blowing them out in 2010 and 2009, Champion won this year's contest, 2-1.
Champion coach Samara Weinstein said her team was just a little flat when the match started.
"Previously, we played them in the (regional) finals after playing a tough game the day before and we handily beat them," she said. "It was hard getting pumped up then and it was hard getting pumped up now."
One thing that made it tough for both teams was a stiff Gulf breeze that changed how the game was played.
"Nobody had any legs, it was like moving in slow motion," Weinstein said. "The wind was blowing 100 miles an hour."
Okay, maybe the wind wasn't quite at 100 miles an hour. It was closer to 20 to 30 mph, with gusts of up to 40, but it was still tough to play in.
Champion keeper Morgan Glick said she had to make adjustments at her position.
"I just stay further back and know that when we're against the wind the ball is going to hang and when we're with the wind it's going to carry," she said.
With time winding down in the first half, Tori Alaniz carried a shot with the wind at her back from 30 yards out to put the Chargers on the board.
Champion stayed ahead 1-0 until the 65th minute when Cassie Lange sent the ball under the Flour Bluff keeper to make it 2-0.
"I saw an opening under the keeper, so I just laid it in there," Lange said.
Flour Bluff made things interesting when they scored with eight minutes left to trim Champion's lead in half, 2-1, but neither team would score the rest of the way in the very physical match.
Lange said she expected a physical game from the Lady Hornets.
"You can't expect anything less than that because they've been physical the last two years," she said.
