Brazoria County High Schools girls soccer teams in playoffs
From The Brazosport Facts
As the process of the coronavirus pandemic continues, it will be interesting to see what kind of rescheduling emerges for springs sports teams, especially the local girls soccer districts.
All five local public school programs — Brazoswood, Angleton, Brazosport, Columbia and Sweeny — were in playoff spots with only one or two matches left in the regular season. Among them, only Sweeny sat on the bubble with the other teams among their district's elite.
All of them will go at least six weeks without competition when the UIL allows play to resume, which is now set at May 4.
Here is a refresher on how each team sits.
BRAZOSPORT
When time was called by the UIL, the Brazosport Lady Ships led District 24-4A at 10-1-0 and 30 points.
The Lady Ships had put 59 goals into the net, averaging 5.36 goals a match, led by senior Samantha Garcia with 29 goals and 10 assists. Junior Karely Almanza was in the top five with 14 goals and 15 assists.
Garcia, who is one of the captains on the team along with Vivianna Ruiz and Haley Nanez, said team members have been trying to do as much as they can to stay in game shape.
“Coach (Robert) Nichol has been in contact with us and just telling us to stay in contact with the ball as much as possible just in case we can go back to our season,” Garcia said. “I’ve been going to MacLean Park and just playing out there by myself. There is no one out there, so I just have been kicking the ball around. I was going to the gym, but they closed it. So I also have been running the trail at MacLean Park.”
Some of the Lady Ships met up this week at Slade Field, but once social distancing was given greater emphasis, they stopped their get-togethers.
Like most currently are away from their favorite sports, anxiousness can set in.
“Everyone is a bit confused about all of this and just want to know if we are going to get to play again,” Garcia said of her teammates. "It would be heartbreaking if I don’t get to finish on the field. I am a bit sad about that.”
assists, and team co-captain Kaitlyn Prihoda is third with 17 goals, 10 assists.
Trying to find ways out of the house, Prihoda is staying busy.
“It is so boring, but I’ve been staying a bit busy with my mom having surgery on her knee last week,” she said. “I am driving her to her physical therapy and home, which gets me out of the house for that.”
Most of the Lady ’Necks are just working out on their own.
“I was at Planet Fitness until they shut down, so now I am just doing home workouts,” Prihoda said. “We live on 10 acres, so I can kick the ball wherever I want, plus we do a lot of yard work and that keeps me in shape.”
A senior, she’d like one more shot at the field in high school.
“I didn’t expect it to go like this. It's been hard sitting at home away from everybody and away from soccer, something that we were looking forward to this season,” Prihoda said.
SWEENY
Sitting in fourth place and a playoff spot at 5-5-0 with 15 points, the Lady Dogs could catch third-place Bay City (7-3-0) with some help. Sweeny would need to beat Wharton and Bay City, and the Lady Blackcats would have to lose to El Campo and Sweeny.
All that requires getting back on the field.
The Lady Dogs have scored 34 goals in district, led by senior captain Ansley Blake with 13 goals, seven assists. Jaleigh McCarey is second on the team with 10 goals, five assists.
In a group chat, Blake has stayed in contact with her teammates and has also chatted with head coach Samantha Kuykendall.
“She’s given us some updates on what is going on and just keeps encouraging us to stay active,” Blake said. “We are trying to do as much as we can on our own or getting together with teammates to kick the ball around. I run a few miles daily and do some weight training at home, so I really don’t have to go any where.”
In the five seasons since girls soccer started at Sweeny, they’ve made the playoffs four times. This could be their fourth in a row.
“I know this is tough for everyone, but I am sad because for the seniors, for some of us, it will be the last few games if we get back to it,” Blake said. “But it would be very disappointing if we don’t get to play those games.”
