Marble Falls girls soccer wins all matches at Lago Vista tourney

Courtesy photo

The Marble Falls High School girls soccer team is 3-0 after beating China Spring 5-0, Luling 8-0 and Lampasas 7-0 Jan. 2-3 at the Viking Cup tournament hosted by Lago Vista. 

Coming into the season, head coach Marisa Miller said the Lady Mustangs had been intentional on being more offensive. This tournament, where they scored 20 goals in three matches, illustrates the work the team has put in.

“It was a team effort,” she said. “We’ve been working very hard in the off-season connecting offensively. Last year we struggled a bit with finishing. So that’s something we’ve definitely been working on since last season, and it shows. We had a couple key players that got a lot of points and a lot of goals, so it wasn’t just one person. It was more of a team effort all around. We were connecting very well offensively.”

Miller called the contest against China Spring “a fun game.”

“We were able to kind of dominate offensively and put the ball away,” she said. “So it was a good first game to the tournament against China Spring.”

Avery Wallace was named the player of the game for scoring two goals “and playing some amazing offense,” Miller said. 

“She had a goal and a (penalty kick),” she said. “She played very well in her first game on the wing for us,” she said.

Because of the lopsided score against Luling, Miller said she substituted freely.

“That one was good,” she said. “We got a lot of girls playing time. We got a good look at where people are going to play and got to play with our formation a little bit. And so that gave us a good look all around for the team.”

Player of the game went to Cali Brydon because “her passing game in the middle was on point,” the coach said. 

“She is learning this role of our holding mid (defensive midfielder), and she’s been playing very well in that position,” she said. “And so we gave her that because she was a very good leader whenever we were changing formations around and learning that position. She did really well.”

Miller noted the score against Lampasas may be a little misleading.

“It was actually a very competitive game and the girls just played very, very well in that last game,” she said.  

Senior outside back Giselle Hernandez was the player of the game because “she brought the hustle and played amazing defense,” Miller said. 

“She had a very good game defensively,” she said. “We almost got scored on, but she flew into the goal and saved us and was a big contribution to us, keeping our shutout for the whole weekend.”

Hernandez’s play in this contest illustrates the importance of the Lady Mustangs being sharp on both sides of the ball.

“It’s easy to look at your offense and say we did really well, because you can count goals and assists,” the coach said. “Defensive shutouts are great, too; our defense was really solid this week and all around. They were helping start the plays, they were helping starting our attacks and then covering for our midfield. We had a few times they were getting up and helping with the offense as well. So our defense had a huge part in our offense a lot of the time, too.”

The Lady Mustangs will compete in the Midway Classic Tournament hosted by Waco Midway Thursday-Saturday, Jan. 8-10. 

“The team chemistry is building, so we’re very excited to watch these girls move forward and see what they can do for the rest of the season,” Miller said.  

Marble Falls will welcome Austin Achieve Tuesday, Jan. 13, and Brownwood Friday, Jan. 16.