The El Campo Ladybirds' season ended in the second round for the first time in school history. On Thursday night, El Campo dropped the area championship to the Lorena Lady Leopards 5-0 at Brenham Cub Stadium. The Lady Leopards advanced to the regional championship last season and were the No. 10 team in the state this season.
“Even though we didn't get the ending we wanted last night, I'm very proud of our season. This season has been one of the most memorable I've ever been a part of,” Lady Bird Coaches said. , Brittany Oluonyev said. “It was fun making history again with this group of athletes. I'm so proud of them and they should be proud too. We strive for greatness again next year. , we will create change.”
The season ended in the second round, but the Ladybirds needed a 4-3 come-from-behind victory over the Iowa Colony Lady Pioneers and a junior They needed four goals from Madison Gaona. night.
“Watching the clock go from 50 (seconds) to zero, we're winning by one point. I don't even know how to feel,” Lady Bird junior Madison Gaona said. After El Campo's first playoff win. “I was really happy and I cried tears of joy. But I'm really proud of how far we've come. We didn't win a single game my freshman year, and now we're so happy. We were able to advance to the second round for the first time.”
Gaona's goal gave El Campo an early lead, but it was the Lady Pioneers who held the lead late in the first half.
Leading 2-1 with 8:12 left in the second half, the Ladybirds got a corner kick and sent the ball toward the net. It was kicked out of the box, but not completely cleared. Gaona stole the ball near the 15-yard line and kicked the ball into the back of the net to tie the game.
Early in the second half, the Ladybirds regained the upper hand.
With less than two minutes left, freshman Heather Kocian made a pass to Gaona. Lady Bird, a junior, dribbled past two defenders, got one-on-one with the goalie from 15 yards out, and slotted the ball into the back of the net.
But the lead didn't last long, as the Lady Pioneers tied the score seconds later. The shot on goal hit the top of the goal post, bounced back into play, and a Lady Pioneer forward scored the rebound to make it 3-3.
Iowa Colony stayed aggressive and had a few good looks on goal over the next 10 minutes, but couldn't get any extra points from El Campo.
With 13 minutes and 10 seconds remaining, Kocian and Gaona scored the winning goals. Kocian stole the ball from the defender in the center of the field, moved away from the defense and passed again to Gaona, who took charge of the rest. The junior outplayed the defense and scored his fourth goal of the night. The goal was El Campo's 38th in his last 16 games.
“Maddie (Gaona) is just so competitive. When she first started, she didn't even know that soccer would (eventually) be her favorite sport. I encouraged her to come out and give it a try. “I begged her to try it. I thought she was good at it,” Oluonyev said. “She tried it out and fell in love with this sport. She just kept working day in and day out. She's a junior now, but every year she's hungry to get better and better. She never missed a goal. She went from not scoring to scoring some goals to now scoring almost every goal. She's a playmaker.”
The Lady Pioneers put pressure on El Campo in the final minutes, but were forced into desperate shots from deep and were unable to get a shot on goal. El Campo hung on for the win, marking the first playoff win in program history.
Oluonyev credited sophomore Maylee Martinez's defense for being the Lady Pioneers' best player throughout the game, tiring her out and making her work.
After reaching the regional finals a season ago, the El Campo Ricebirds' run ended with a 2-1 loss to the Iowa Colony Pioneers in the first round Tuesday night at Freedom Field. .
“At this point in the season, if you fall asleep for even one second, you die. We fell asleep for two seconds and they gave us two goals,” Rice Bird coach Audie Jackson said. Told. “It didn't go our way. I think it's fair to say it's a shame to end it so soon. We expected more.”
El Campo had several good chances to score throughout the game, but shots either touched off or made great saves from the Iowa Colony keeper, making things tough for El Campo.
Iowa Colony took the lead early in the game with a header off a corner kick in the 10th minute. El Campo had possession for most of the first half, but the Pioneers were able to score whenever they had the chance.
Fifteen minutes into the first half, El Campo got a corner kick and the ball beat the goalkeeper, but a Pioneer defender was in the box and was able to kick the ball out of danger. A few minutes later, the Ricebirds looked good again, this time senior Raymond Moreno heading the ball toward the goal. The keeper tried to take a shot, but the ball rolled out of his hands and bounced just short of the goal line. The keeper was able to recover and grab the ball before it rolled into the net.
Iowa Colony added its second goal before the first half by capitalizing on a mistake by the Rice Bird defense near the goal.
Rice Bird sophomore Olinson Artica was one-on-one with the keeper and slipped out with seven seconds left. He fired a powerful kick toward the net, and the Pioneer's keep jumped forward for a diving stop, keeping El Campo scoreless.
In the second half, El Campo became more aggressive, drawing fouls and winning free kicks, but their shots either went wide or just wide. With time running out, Moreno took a chip shot from midfield, caught running senior Diego Gutierrez, and headed it home.
Seconds later, the Rice Birds almost equalized with a corner kick, but the ball hit the crossbar. Gutierrez took a free kick with three minutes remaining, but once again El Campo's shot went just wide. With 10 seconds left in the game, El Campo had one last chance with a corner kick. Iowa Colony blocked the shot and Moreno reached the ball in the remaining time, but was run over by a Pioneer defender and this time he was unable to draw a call, surprising El Campo and ending the game.
“I'm proud of our seniors who supported us last year and made it all the way this year. Back at Calhoun and Bay City, they fought until the last moment and they did the same today,” Jackson said. Told. “I can't be mad at them, I love them to death. They're going to be great guys. They're great players.”
