Thursday, April 25, 2024
SEASON FINALE The Granbury Lady Pirates ended their season in a 3-0 defeat to state No. 2 Grapevine Thursday night.
FORT WORTH – Things were looking good at intermission.
The Granbury Lady Pirates played outstanding defense in the first half, stopping the highly touted Grapevine Lady Mustangs.
The Doskocil Stadium scoreboard read 0-0 in the Class 5A bidistrict soccer match.
However, in the second half the Lady Mustangs showed why they are ranked No. 2 in the state. They scored three goals within six minutes while continuing to shut out the Lady Pirates at Nolan Catholic High School.
“I think we may have held them longer than anybody had,” Lady Pirate head coach David Winkleman said. “They’re good. That team can go the full deal (win state).”
Grapevine, the District 6-5A champ, advances to the second round of the playoffs. They’re now 20-2-2 on the season. Granbury, the fourth-place seed from District 5-5A, finished 6-10-3.
Granbury’s game plan of total team defense paid off in the first half. “They have a lot of weapons offensively,” Winkleman said. “We were trying to defend, win the ball.”
The Lady Pirates had chances in the second half but maybe got a little tired after an aggressive opening 40 minutes, the coach said.
“We had two good chances to score,” Winkleman said. “It could have worked, but it didn’t.”
Granbury’s center back was injured in the first half and freshman Riley Morris “stepped in and played lights out with the giants,” Winkleman said.
Junior goalie Caylin Damron shined for the Lady Pirates with 26 saves.
Junior Kaylee Palmer had a shot on goal (SOG) that was denied by the right goalpost.
Senior Aubrey Kirby and sophomore Maddie Black each had a SOG.
Winkleman also praised juniors Malakye Harris and Madison Rogers for quality play.
“21-22 starts in a couple of weeks,” he said. “The season is over, and next season starts.”
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