Lady Blues soccer season ends in area round loss to San Elizario

A few days after making program history with their first bi-district playoff win, the Graham Lady Blues took on San Elizario, one of the top-ranked teams in the state, and saw their season come to a close with a hard-fought 2-1 loss in the area round of the playoffs.

After Graham defeated Borger to earn the team’s first playoff win ever, the Lady Blues traveled to Midland for a neutral site game with the Lady Eagles, who came into the matchup ranked No. 2 in Class 4A in the Texas Girls Coaches Association poll.

San Elizario had only lost one game throughout the course of their season and held an incredibly high goal differential. The Lady Eagles were accustomed to scoring quickly and scoring often and had proven the ability to do so all year long.

Despite the impressive resume, the Lady Blues were ready for the heated battle. During the course of the game, Graham often looked to be the better team. For a team like San Elizario who’s used to scoring easily, the Lady Blues made things difficult. The Lady Eagles’ goals came off a small mistake by Graham’s defense and a somewhat controversial moment near the end of the first half.

“You sit there and you look at rankings and this and that, the team that scored a lot of goals and doesn’t give up many, there’s a reason that they forced us into some mistakes,” head coach Casey Weil said. “I truly believe that we had more opportunities, I think we had better opportunities and sometimes the ball doesn’t bounce your way.”

San Elizario managed to score in the first five minutes of the game after Graham had a goal kick. Instead of getting the ball in the air to give it some distance, the kick stayed low to the ground and ended up at the feet of one of the Lady Eagles within striking distance of the goal. She quickly powered a shot past a diving attempt from Graham’s goalkeeper, Taylor Lauster, for San Elizario’s 1-0 lead.

Despite that early deficit, the Lady Blues played a solid first half, even as they fought a strong wind. Lauster made multiple other saves throughout the first 40 minutes and kept her team close. Graham had a few shots on goal in the half by seniors Sophie Schlieper and Madi Wilde, but both missed off-target by a few feet.

With a little more than two minutes to go in the half, the Lady Blues had a corner kick opportunity. Schlieper hit a shot towards the goal that got picked up by the wind and hit the football goalposts.

None of the referees made any sort of signal and play continued with San Elizario taking the ball down the field in the final minute. The Lady Eagles scored their second goal with less than a minute to play for the 2-0 halftime lead.

“It just didn’t go our way… different things (happened), but you can’t sit there and go ‘shoulda, coulda, woulda,’” Weil said. “But I’m so proud of (my team) and for doing what they did this year.”

Coming out of the halftime break, the Lady Blues had the wind at their backs and played even more aggressively in the second half. The team had a few more shots on goal and spent more time on San Elizario’s side of the field.

With just less than 15 minutes to play, Graham had another corner kick that Schlieper took. She fired a pass from the far side of the field that crossed all the way to junior Camden Thorne on the close side, who perfectly placed a soft shot over the head of San Elizario’s goalkeeper for the Lady Blues’ first score of the game to make it 2-1.

The momentum built up for Graham in that moment and the team had another shot to score in the final minutes as Schlieper took a free kick from mid-range distance. It was nearly on target and just missed the goal on the right side.

Despite the team’s efforts, the final horn sounded and San Elizario had held on for the win and the Lady Blues’ season ended. Although it was tough to end with a loss, Weil was proud of his team in this game and for the entire season.

“The thing that they have to leave this game knowing is that they need to hold their head high and the people that matter are extremely proud of them and opened a lot of eyes (about the soccer program),” Weil said. “... They put everything into it that they had and they gave their all every single second that they were on the field.”