ROY HESS | Staff Writer
Although it took some extra time to accomplish the feat, the Harlingen South Lady Hawks are advancing to the regional tournament final in soccer for the first time since 2003.
The Lady Hawks prevailed 2-1 in overtime Friday against the Austin Westlake Lady Chaparrals during the Region IV-6A Tournament semifinals at Brownsville Sports Park.
The South girls played as a Class 5A school when they reached this level of the playoffs for the first time in 2003.
The Lady Hawks (23-3) go against Austin Lake Travis (22-4) at 10 a.m. today at BSP for the Class 6A regional title and a trip to next week’s UIL state tournament in Georgetown. Earlier Friday, Lake Travis advanced with a 3-0 semifinal victory against La Joya Juarez-Lincoln.
“It means the world to us to win this game,” said Alise Garza, a senior forward for South who scored the game-winning goal from close range with just less than five minutes left in Friday’s match. “We haven’t done this in such a long time.
“To be able to make it this far to the Elite Eight (of the playoffs) is just great,” Garza added. “We just have to play as strong as we did today, and we can come out with the win.”
It took a strong defensive effort by the Lady Hawks to come away with the victory against the Lady Chaparrals and their seemingly non-stop offensive attack.
Leading the way for South was senior goalkeeper Reid Davis, with a double-digit number of saves. Other standouts on defense for the Lady Hawks were Korynne Reininger, Bianca Martinez, Mellory Grannum, Jackie Guillen and Joann Saldana.
“This was a (Westlake) team that definitely knows how to score,” Davis said. “We watched film and saw that they can put the ball in the net, without a doubt. It was really important for me to stay focused and just play the way I know how to play.
“We’re all really excited to be here playing in the regional final,” Davis added.
It was a scoreless game until Grannum found the net from medium range on the right side with about eight minutes gone in the second half to give South a 1-0 lead.
“This win is amazing,” Grannum said. “I can’t explain how good it feels to be moving into the next round. I’m just so happy we’re in the Elite Eight.
“We just put all our hearts into it,” she added. “We didn’t want it to be our last game. I just want to thank our coaches, the players and all the fans who came out to see us play.”
With the end of regulation drawing near, Westlake kept pressing the offensive attack, and the Lady Chaparrals were rewarded for it with nine minutes remaining before overtime when Davis came out to stop a shot but couldn’t get to it in time. The Lady Chaparrals passed the ball to an open teammate, and she rolled a shot into the goal from about 15 yards away.
The Westlake score created a 1-1 game, and made the possibility of OT and maybe even penalties seem quite likely.
But Garza soon came to the rescue for the Lady Hawks with less than five minutes to go in OT and provided a 2-1 victory for South.
“I want to say Caroline (Grannum) gave me the pass (from the left side),” Garza said. “I saw the ball roll past the goalkeeper. I knew it was my opportunity (to score), and I took the shot.”
Omar Pedroza said this has become one of his most memorable seasons in 23 years as the Lady Hawks’ coach.
“It’s very special,” he said. “I’m really happy for our girls. We have an outstanding group of young ladies. This is very nice.
“I don’t know if I’ll be able to sleep tonight,” he added. “I got up about 3:30 this morning to get ready for this game. It’ll probably be the same tonight, but I’m really enjoying the heck out of this.”