ROY HESS | Staff Writer
BROWNSVILLE — Well, it was fun while it lasted.
The Harlingen South Lady Hawks said goodbye to a memorable soccer season Saturday following a 3-0 loss to Austin Lake Travis in the Region IV-6A Tournament final at Brownsville Sports Park.
The District 32-6A runner-up Lady Hawks ended the season with a 23-4 record.
District 25-6A runner-up Lake Travis (23-4) moves on to the UIL State Tournament in Georgetown during the coming week. It will be Lake Travis’ second appearance at state in soccer. The Lady Cavaliers advanced to state for the first time as a Class 4A school in 2007.
“It’s been awhile,” Lake Travis coach Trey Young said. “This is the first time in 6A, so we’re pretty proud of that.
“It feels like a lot of different girls have had a hand in getting us this far this year,” he added. “It wasn’t just one particular girl who was a superstar. Everybody has contributed, so that makes it kind of special. It feels fantastic.”
The South girls were playing in the regional final for the first time since 2003.
Lady Hawks coach Omar Pedroza said fatigue was a factor for his girls since they played 100 minutes during the hottest part of a sunny day Friday in defeating Austin Westlake 2-1 in overtime during their regional semifinal.
Conversely, Lake Travis built an early 3-0 lead during its semifinal win earlier Friday against La Joya Juarez-Lincoln and was able to rest its starters during its decisive victory against the Lady Huskies. The Lady Cavaliers wound up winning their semifinal 3-0.
For Pedroza, the back-to-back aspect of playing Friday and Saturday was an important factor for his team to overcome.
“The main thing was the 100 minutes that was played (by us) Friday under that sun and the way it was,” the South coach said. “I said, ‘Man, we’ve just got to hang in there (against Lake Travis).’
“Bottom line, Lake Travis is an outstanding team,” Pedroza added. “They have a very good group of girls. It’s hard to say which team is better, Lake Travis or Austin Westlake (which are both from 25-6A). The big difference was these (Lake Travis) girls were pretty rested up (thanks to their decisive win Friday). We weren’t.
“My girls did an outstanding job. They just kept fighting and fighting. That’s all you can do.”
While the Lady Hawks weren’t able to muster much of an offensive attack, goals by Natalie Yoo and Jessica Wade during the 21st and 29th minutes, respectively, gave the Lady Cavaliers a 2-0 halftime advantage.
Teammate Trinity Clark scored from the left side during the 64th minute to complete the 3-0 tally.
Afterward, Pedroza told his team it was a time to be proud, not sad.
“I told our girls, ‘Don’t be sad, you should be proud because this is only the second one we’ve ever gotten,’” said the South coach, referring to the regional runner-up trophy. “It’s nice and it’s awesome. I’m happy for the girls because it was a good season.”