Lady Rattlers blank Leopards
Navasota senior Kleber Cruz advances the ball upfield with a big kick during the Rattlers 4A Bi-District matchup with Giddings. Navasota fell 3-1 in a penalty shootout. Examiner photo by Matthew Ybarra
BELLVILLE — There was one mission on the minds of the Navasota Lady Rattler soccer team heading into their 4A Bi-District matchup Friday, March 25, at Bellville High School — beat La Grange, a feat they had never accomplished until that night. Navasota claimed the Bi-District Championship with a 2-0 win.
La Grange, the same team that knocked the Lady Rattlers out of the playoffs last season, have been a nemesis Navasota has been unable to beat. “A year ago, we felt defeated,” explained Navasota Head Coach Carlyn Nichols. “I felt like we had a great chance to beat them last year, but we fell to them pretty bad in the first round. We hated that feeling.”
Earlier in the week Nichols said she felt this was going to be the time they finally beat the Lady Leopards. “It’s crazy that we matched up with them again this year. All we could think about is it is our year and we are going to defeat La Grange this time,” said Nichols.
It didn’t take long for the Lady Rattlers to strike. Just under nine minutes into the game, sophomore Mariah Guevara snuck the ball past the Lady Leopard goalie for the first goal. Just under nine minutes later another sophomore, Mayra Castillo, added to the Lady Rattler lead. She put up a shot that ricocheted off the top bar.
Navasota pressured La Grange all-night offensively keeping pressure on their defense. “La Grange played us in our tournament in January, and we gave up two goals on small mistakes,” explained Nichols. “We worked on our passing, not holding onto the ball and defending number one, their strongest player. We focused on controlling the ball because we knew if they had control they would force our defense to work with quick passes. Tonight, our defense didn’t have to do that much work because our offense did a great job of making passes and taking a lot of shots.”
Navasota played against Lake Belton Tuesday, March 29, at Rockdale High School in the 4A Area Round (results were not available at press time).
Varsity Boys
Navasota’s varsity boys’ soccer team went toe-to-toe with the Giddings Buffaloes at Bellville High School Friday March 25, in the 4A Bi-District round but fell in a penalty shootout.
After two full periods and two periods of extra-time, the Rattlers and Buffaloes remained scoreless. Navasota struck first on penalty kicks, but Giddings answered. Giddings had a diving save on the Rattlers next attempt, then converted on a shot just under the top upright for a 2-1 lead. Navasota’s next shot had the Buffalo goalie off balance headed left, but the shot went off the right goal post. Navasota’s goalie blocked the next attempt to keep the score 2-1 in favor of Giddings. The next and final exchange belonged to Giddings blocking the Navasota attempt then converting for the 3-1 win.