GREG LUCA | STAFF WRITER
CORPUS CHRISTI — Sharyland Pioneer girls soccer juniors Julie Alanis, Hannah Padilla and Taylor Marquez all used the same word to describe Friday’s loss: “heartbreaking.”
Pioneer seemed outclassed by defending state champion Vandegrift for most of the game, keeping the score close but mounting very little offense in a 1-0 region IV-5A semifinal loss at Cabaniss Soccer Field.
“It’s very heartbreaking knowing that we tried our best and still couldn’t come out with a more positive outcome,” Alanis said. “But I’m just glad that we can say we all know we pushed our hardest. We can say that we tried to the very end.”
Alanis said Vandegrift had advantages in speed and height, and coach J.J. Lopez complimented the Vipers’ touch and ability to spread the field.
Vandegrift seemed to have the ball in Pioneer’s box about as often as Pioneer had it on the offensive half. The Vipers used crisp passing to generate chance after chance, showing why they’ve outscored their opponents 12-0 across four playoff wins.
“I feel accomplished, because we’re a first-year program, and they’ve been around for a while,” Marquez said. “They were state champions, and they were good. I’m proud of my team for keeping up with them.”
Vandegrift’s lone breakthrough came with 25:45 to play in the opening half. Lopez said one of Pioneer’s wings failed to drop back correctly on defense, leaving Gracie Erdman a clear lane to run onto a pass at the top of the box and fire it into the lower-left portion of the net.
“The bottom line is that a lot of those girls play together and have been playing together, so they get to know each other a little bit better,” Lopez said. “The skill level is obviously a little bit higher than what we have. That’s just something we need to work on.”
The Lady Diamondbacks will have plenty of opportunity to grow closer next season with just one senior reserve set to graduate.
For now, a trip to the fourth round and loss to the defending state champion as a first-year program is something Pioneer is proud of.
“We did really great this year for a first-year team,” Padilla said. “We worked hard all season and we never gave up. We never listened to what other people were saying about us because we’re a first-year team.”