Marble Falls boys soccer beats Little River Academy

CAPTION: DeMarco Davis is one of several Mustangs to score a goal against Little River Academy Jan. 22 in a match that was moved to avoid bad weather. Photos by Shaunna Marcum/ShaunnaLisa

The Marble Falls High School boys soccer team crushed Little River Academy 4-1 Jan. 22 in the Mustangs’ final non-district contest.

Next up is the District 26-4A opener at Wimberley Wednesday, Jan. 28. Junior varsity A plays at 5 p.m. with the varsity to follow.

Joaquin Aguilar began the scoring with an assist from Aaron Luna. Jhoan Amador Green scored the next goal thanks to an assist from Aguilar, and Eliezer Chocoj ended the scoring in the first half with an assist from Diego Lacayo for a 3-0 lead at the break.

Demarco Davis scored the Mustangs’ (4-2-4) final goal with an assist from Alan Rivera.

This contest, which was played a day earlier because of the coming bad weather Jan. 23, was a continuation of what the Mustangs were trying to do offensively two days earlier.

During the 1-0 victory against Austin KIPP Jan. 20, head coach Ryan Craven told the Mustangs to keep shooting. The Mustangs were frustrated because they took multiple shots at the goal but put only one in the back of the net.

Against Academy, that changed.

“Tuesday night they were looking for the perfect shot, and they weren’t getting enough shots off,” Craven said. “We practiced (the) morning (of Jan. 21) and we got some shooting. We even practiced (the afternoon of Jan. 22) a little bit during the athletic period and it was basically focused on shooting. And I told them, it was credit to them, to shoot even if it’s not perfect. No matter where you’re at on the field, let it rip and they did. They took some bad shots, but they took a lot of good ones. You miss 100 percent of shots you don’t take – to borrow a phrase from basketball.”

Soccer measures shot attempts in two stats: shots on goal or on target and shots at goal or at target. Shots on goal are attempts that would have found the back of the net if a save hadn’t been made. Shots at goal are all attempts.

Craven said he encouraged the shooting because of how it helps players with accuracy and confidence — shots on goal — and pointed to the first half as the example.

“The more Eli shot, the more he got on target,” he said. “He had shots going over the post, and then he finally drilled one in the back of the net. So he did a great job. Joaquin Aguilar made it real hard on the defense, and we were finding him a lot, and he took a ton of shots, and some of them were off target. And he finally got a goal to go in. So he was shooting a bunch. Jhoan was dribbling around people and taking shots as well. He’s just a sophomore, so it’s good to see a younger player shine other than Eli.”

While the Mustangs were looking to be more offensive, the defense continues to play with the same intensity led by junior goalie Jett Marcum.

“They’re solid, as always,” the coach said. “Jett did another great job. He didn’t give up a goal again. So I think he’s only given up four goals all year and he’s played 10 games. So that’s impressive. He’s doing a really good job in the back, directing us, talking to us.”

He also commended the Mustangs who help protect the goal.

“I was really pleased with our outside backs of our defense, making runs and getting into the offensive attack,” Craven said.

Overall, he was encouraged by what he saw, especially since he had mixed up the lineup to feature several seniors with underclassmen.  

“This is a good game,” he said. “It’s a game to get our confidence going in the right direction. We’ve battled. We had probably one of the toughest preseason schedules of anybody in our district, if not in the state of Texas. I feel real confident going forward.”