Lady Blues, Steers lose to Old High

Both the Steers and Lady Blues soccer teams struggled Friday night in a pair of losses to Wichita Falls High School at Memorial Stadium in Wichita Falls. The pair of games saw the teams giving up a combined 14 goals.

The Steers opened the doubleheader with a 5-0 loss. The Lady Blues followed with a 9-1 loss to a Lady Coyotes team that is ranked ninth in girl’s 4A soccer and averaged nearly nine goals per game in district play going into Friday’s contest.

Coyotes 5, Steers 0

The Coyotes did most of their damage early in the first half, holding a 3-0 lead with 18 minutes left in the first half. Trailing 4-0 in the final 14 minutes of the half, the Steers had multiple opportunities to score late in the first half.

Free kicks from Landan Locker and Jesus Lucio were saved by the Coyotes’ goalkeeper. After a diving save by Steers goalkeeper Owen Gage, the Steers nearly had a goal with 4:25 left in the half when a cross from Jace Gill from outside the box in the left corner was received by Lucio, whose shot just missed the goal. 

The Steers gave up the final goal of the match with 29:31 remaining in the match. Thirteen minutes later a Coyotes shot just missed the crossbar. Gill, Lucio and Enrique Gomez each challenged the Coyotes' keeper over a period of nine minutes, late in the second half. Gomez’s shot required a diving save.

The loss dropped the Steers to 0-5 in district play and 3-11-4 for the season. Following Tuesday’s road match against Hirschi in Memorial Stadium, the Steers will have the weekend off before traveling to Burkburnett Tuesday, March 7. The Steers will close the season out Friday, March 10 when they host Mineral Wells at 7:30 p.m.

Lady Coyotes 9, Lady Blues 1

Following the second meeting between the Lady Blues and Lady Coyotes this season the Lady Coyotes have only given up two goals in the district schedule. The Lady Blues scored the first goal when they previously played Monday, Feb. 6 on Newton Field. The second goal came with just over 24 minutes remaining in the second half. Macee Wilde ended the Lady Coyotes’ clean sheet bid for her second goal of the season.

Despite the two big losses to the Lady Coyotes, Lady Blues coach Misty Mills said their ability to be the only district team to score on the ninth-ranked team in the state shows the potential of the team.

“It shows we are heading in the right direction,” Mills said. “We have taken a lot more shots this year than we have in the past. We aren’t always on target with those shots and aren’t always making those shots, but they’re getting there. You can’t score if you’re not taking shots.”

The Lady Blues were scheduled to play at Memorial Stadium again Tuesday night against Hirschi.

Following their meeting with the Huskies, the Lady Blues will travel to Burkburnett for a 5:30 p.m. kickoff Tuesday, March 7 and host Mineral Wells Friday, March 10 at 7:30 p.m.