Kingwood Park Girls Soccer

MAGNOLIA — The College Station girls soccer team pushed District 20-5A champion Kingwood Park to penalty kicks, but the Lady Panthers escaped with a 2-1 victory in the Class 5A bi-district playoffs at Bulldog Stadium on Thursday night. By winning the shootout 3-2, the Lady Panthers (16-3-2) advance to the area playoffs and will face the either Austin Anderson or Bastrop next week.

“It’s hard when it comes down to PKs,” Lady Cougar head coach Stoney Pryor said, “because girls put a lot of that burden on their own backs, and that’s not really where it needs to be. It’s a team game, and we go through the whole thing.”

Tensions were high as both team’s sent five players and their goalkeeper to the field in preparation for the shootout after finishing regulation and two overtime periods tied at 1.

College Station’s Taylor Jennings tied the shootout 2-2, but Nadia Lawrence put Kingwood Park ahead when her shot narrowly escaped senior goalie Keira Herron’s hands and went into the bottom right hand corner of the net. College Station’s final penalty kick sailed high above the goal and Kingwood Park’s bench rushed the field in celebration.

“I told them at the end of the game they’ll remember this game for the rest of their life, because it was so close,” Pryor said.

The Lady Cougars (13-10) held the top-seeded Lady Panthers scoreless until the final minutes of regulation.

College Station was the first to score when Kylie McRaven tapped the ball in with her knee after getting past a mass of players in the goalie box with a little more than eight minutes left in the second half.

“We created some opportunities,” Pryor said. “Of course you think when you score towards the end, maybe we can hang on for eight and a half minutes, then they scored pretty quickly. But I thought that we were smart about things we did.”

Kingwood Park’s Emma Yeager put an end to College Station’s cheers less than a minute later after she beat a defender and took her shot just feet away from Herron, who reached out but couldn’t wrangle in the ball.

“Keira played outstanding in the goal,” Pryor said. “She made a couple of just phenomenal saves. I look forward to seeing those on film, because I was so impressed with her quick reflexes.”

College Station’s defense had one of its best performances of the season despite facing constant pressure. Herron put her volleyball skills to the test, diving for multiple saves in regulation as the Lady Panthers had 12 shots on goal compared to the Lady Cougars’ four.

Herron made a few more saves during the two 10-minute overtime periods to keep Kingwood Park at bay. Her biggest was a diving save as the clock expired in the second OT period on a convincing shot at the game-winning goal.

“The defense played great,” Pryor said. “I thought that we closed down opportunities and gave them minimal opportunities. … I thought we played and covered for each other really well, and then our midfield supported that.”

College Station will graduate seven seniors this year, including Herron, Simmy Ghosh, Anna Kjerfve, Emily Hord, Sarah Del Rio, Ellie Hagen and Robin Loopstra.

Pryor said he won’t soon forget this team and its seniors. The longtime coach will take over as head football coach for the Cougars in the fall and step down from his post in charge of the girls soccer team.

“I couldn’t be more proud of this group,” he said. “I told them at the end this is something I’ll obviously remember forever as well, the group that I got to coach this year and the way they played. And I think it largely comes from seniors, because those are the players that have bought in for a long time and invested their time and lives.”

Abigail Ochoa
Bryan College Station Eagle
March 24, 2022

By Isabel Canizales, KPTimes.com

After finishing the season 18-1-1 and going undefeated in district play, the girls soccer team is ready for the playoffs. The Panthers will face Mount Pleasant in their bi-district playoff game on Friday night. Meet four of the players who have made an impact along the way.

Read More: https://kptimes.com/11308/sports/qa-meet-four-players-set-for-girls-soccer-playoffs/

The answer was always the same even though Latino traditions and culture would expect a different one. On this National Girls and Women in Sports Day, I think back to the ingrained machismo in Mexican culture.

I even recall the resentment I still hold over the reaction some relatives had when I told them we were due with a daughter. First, let’s start with the trite question.

“What do you want?” friends and family would ask as my wife Megan and I prepared to welcome the first of what proved to be three girls.

As most parents, we just wanted a healthy child. But I would add, “I don’t care if it’s a boy or a girl. I just want a soccer player.”

That held off the questions long enough until we found out the gender. That’s when I found out how the sexism was ingrained deep in my parents’ Mexican culture. That’s when it dawned on me that my sisters didn’t get the same sports opportunities, much less support, that my brothers and I received in a family where my dad coached hundreds of kids for more than a decade.

Imagine the disheartening feeling when your loved ones act as though you’d be disappointed because you were going to have a daughter instead of a son.

“Ni modo,” I remembered my maternal grandmother saying.

In English, that saying would translate to “Oh, well, nothing can be done about it.”

There’s no doubt I wanted a boy. I dreamed of calling him Trey as a nickname for Jose de Jesus Ortiz III, but I was excited to share my love of soccer and baseball with my girls the same way I would have shared it with a boy.

More than just fans
My youngest keeps up with my hometown Dodgers as well as any other kid in Los Angeles even though she was born and raised in Houston. My middle one follows her Astros religiously, defending them through the cheating scandal.

My oldest is a loyal Cubs fan. More importantly, perhaps, they’re active athletes who also shine in the classroom.

God hooked us up.

Softball replaced soccer for Maya Shea
Granted, my middle child Maya gave up soccer long ago because she preferred o play softball. The oldest Kathleen has focused on soccer while the youngest, Sydney, has focused on soccer and basketball.

They keep us busy running to all parts of town and the state, depending on the weekend. We see the benefits of girls sports on a daily basis.

Kathleen has remained committed to soccer
What they’ve learned on the softball diamond, cross country track, basketball court, swimming pool, karate studio and soccer field has carried over to their classrooms.

The two oldest are among the Top 10 students in their respective grades in high school, and the middle schooler’s grades are equally impressive.

Youth sports have helped them develop on and off the field. History shows that the sports will pay off long after my girls are done competing.

Past sports experience helps
“I love what sports does for women,” said West Coast Conference commissioner Gloria Nevarez. “There’s all kinds of data about how women who played sports, whether youth league, high school, it really helps you develop a sense of confidence, a sense of self.”

Nevarez should know. She was a star basketball player growing up in Northern California. She even earned a spot on the San Jose Mercury News’ All-Girls Basketball team as a high school senior in 1989.

She played basketball in college and then began her career as an administrator in collegiate athletics.

No Latino had ever been named a commissioner of a Division I conference in America until the WCC hired Nevarez. She’s just one of many examples of the benefits of girls playing sports.

If you look at board rooms around the country, you’ll quickly find out that many of the women in the top executive roles played sports as kids.

“There’s a disproportionate number of women in c-suite positions that have played sports in their background,” Nevarez said. “You don’t have to play college, don’t have to play Olympics. Just play.

“It’s a blast and it provides a bunch of skills and abilities that will serve you well in life.”

God blessed me with three daughters. They keep us busy chauffeuring them around to their different events. We still have a long way to go to get rid of the machismo in Latino culture.

But, ni modo to all those who don’t appreciate the value of our girls and their place in American sports. The rest of us will enjoy it without them.

José de Jesus Ortiz
FOUNDER & EDITOR IN CHIEF
José de Jesus Ortiz has covered Major League Baseball since 1997 in Los Angeles, St. Petersburg, New York and Houston.

Kingwood Park opened District 20-5A play with an 8-0 shutout over Cleveland at Panthers Stadium Tuesday night.

It was a good start for the Lady Panthers, who are looking to get back to the state tournament — which features the final four teams left in the playoffs — yet again this season.
K-Park was poised to have a chance at another appearance in the state tournament last season for the third straight season, but that didn’t happen after the COVID-19 pandemic caused the UIL to cancel all spring athletics.

“We had 13 seniors last year, and they didn’t know it was going to be their last game,” said K-Park coach Jess White. “So, these girls have to play every game like it’s their last because it could be. They have to make every moment count because it could be taken away this year too.”

The Lady Panthers finished off last week 2-0 after defeating Caney Creek 3-0 on Friday night.

White has built the K-Park girls’ program into one of the top programs in the state since he arrived on campus back in 2011.

The Lady Panthers were ranked No. 1 in the Texas Association of Soccer Coaches preseason poll.

Replacing 13 seniors will have its challenges, but White is optimistic that his team will not miss a beat with hard work and dedication that begins at practice.

“I think it’s going to be a good blend of youth and experience on this team,” White said. “The girls enjoy working on the field. There’s always going to be excitement in this program and teamwork. These girls are going to compete and fight for each other.”

K-Park has sophomore forward Emma Yeager returning this season.

As a freshman, Yeager won the District 21-5A MVP, scoring 36 goals and eight assists for the Lady Panthers.

She was on her way to breaking Vanessa Valadez single season scoring record, which was 40 goals back in 2013.

White is looking forward to Yeager developing into more of a leadership role this season for the Lady Panthers.

“We have begun that conversation,” said White on Yeager’s leadership role. “Your age doesn’t really determine your leadership. But your poise and experience does, and she has all of that. We want her to kind of help mold the younger players around here. She’s not a massive vocal person, but she has been improving this season.”

Vital pieces also return for K-Park on the field. Senior midfielder Lorian Do returns along with senior defender Cora Morgenroth. Senior goalkeeper Samantha Valadez is back along with junior midfielder Kathleen Ortiz.

White is looking for the Lady Panthers to develop chemistry this season and enter the playoffs peaking.

It’s a one game at a time mentality for K-Park and the Lady Panthers have their eye on another state tournament playoff run.

“We’re trying to be as versatile as possible,” said White after the Cleveland game. “I think some girls got some good experiences, showing that they could play multiple positions. It’s good because we don’t know during the season if we might have people out that might be ill or injured. The more spots that you can play is the better for us. We just have to keep practicing hard in practice and translate that to game days. The girls are excited about the season and to get things going in district.”

marcus.gutierrez@chron.com
Twitter:@MarcG14Line