By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
The Los Fresnos girls soccer team has been a model of success in recent years, winning district titles four times during the past six seasons.
The Lady Falcons seem to have a new coach at the helm just about every year, yet changing coaches is something that hasn’t held them back at all. They once again appear quite capable of continuing their winning ways in 2016.
Los Fresnos is one of 28 teams playing in this weekend’s 17th annual BISD girls tournament at Brownsville Sports Park. The Lady Falcons are defending champions of the event. As Friday’s second day of pool play drew to a close, the Los Fresnos girls were looking good as a qualifier for Saturday’s bracket-play quarterfinals.
Patricia K. Hernandez, an assistant the past two seasons, has replaced Marissa Wood as the Lady Falcons’ coach. Hernandez sees good things ahead for the Los Fresnos girls as they attempt to duplicate or surpass last year’s program-best 27-4 season that included a first-time trip to the Region IV-6A final.
“We have a lot of new girls in our program,” Hernandez said. “We have the talent and we have the discipline to take it all the way again. We’re a united team. The girls are hungry to make another run at state.
“We have the core group of players from last year,” Hernandez added. “The additions to the team only complement what we already have with our returnees. I like the fact that our core of returning players is embracing the freshmen and other newcomers and really taking them under their wing. Their expectations for each other and their accountability is there.”
Coming within a single victory of becoming the first girls team from the Rio Grande Valley to advance to the UIL state tournament last season has left the Lady Falcons hungry for more.
“Even though we lost some players from last year, our bench has really been stepping up and we have three freshmen who have come in to fill the shoes of the ones no longer with us,” said Clarissa “Claire” Castaneda, a junior midfielder for the Lady Falcons. “Our District (32-6A) looks very strong again, and hopefully we can pull through and get another title like last year.
“This tournament is just showing us what our competition is as we play some of the teams in our district and also watch some of them,” Castaneda added. “From the look of it, our district is going to be just like last year, which is very tough.”
One of the freshmen making an impact for the Lady Falcons is forward Itzel Bochas. She scored both of Los Fresnos’ goals in a key 2-1 victory against 32-6A rival Lopez during a pool-play game Friday. Bochas scored within the first minute and added her second goal near the end of the match to break a tie and lift her team to victory.
“These girls mean everything to me,” Bochas said of her teammates. “They’re such an amazing team in every way.
“It was really difficult to score against a good team like Lopez, but it really wasn’t about me,” she added. “I’m just glad I had my teammates there to help me score. I honestly didn’t see that coming, but I’m really glad I was able to do what I did.
“We’re just getting started. We have many more games to go. We’re going to push through, and hopefully with God’s help we can get the district title. We want to bring that title home (again).”