Marble Falls girls soccer beats Bandera
CAPTION: Cali Brydon is one of several seniors who gave so much to the program. Photo by Daniel Clifton
The Marble Falls High School girls soccer team ended the 2026 season with a 4-0 thrashing of Bandera March 13 in District 26-4A play.
“We sent our seniors out,” head coach Marisa Miller said. “We let them play their last game, and it was an emotional game. But I think they had fun in their last game, so it was good. “
The Lady Mustangs finish with a record of 2-8-2 in district and 10-8-4 overall. So how did a season of promise for a squad that won eight matches and was undefeated in non-district play have its season end on the last day of the regular season?
Miller stopped short of saying the season was a combination of bad luck and bad timing. And yet that may be the only way to view 2026.
Perhaps the most promising loss occurred Jan. 28 in the district opener at Mustang Stadium against Wimberley. The Lady Texans, who were ranked No. 1 in the state in multiple polls throughout the season, escaped Marble Falls with a 1-0 victory thanks to a goal in the final two minutes of the first half.
While the underclassmen were proud and weren’t shy about showing that, the upperclassmen didn’t say much. That indicated the veterans understood a truth – few teams get an opportunity like that again against a traditional powerhouse, especially if the powerhouse hosts the rematch.
By the time the rematch rolled around Feb. 20, Marble Falls may have been a different team. Wimberley prevailed 3-0 and set off a five-match losing streak until Marble Falls beat Bandera March 13.
“We had a major injury,” Miller said. “And so we had to change up our defense multiple times. We had quite a bit of young players that had to step into big roles quicker than we expected.”
Right after losing to Wimberley, the Lady Mustangs traveled to play at New Braunfels Long Creek and lost 2-0 when the Lady Dragons, who are in their first year of officially playing on the varsity level, scored the goals in the final four minutes of the game.
At that point, Miller began to tally points, because soccer uses a points system to determine district finishes, based on projected results of each match. The heart of the schedule was still coming – San Antonio Davenport, Fredericksburg and Fischer Canyon Lake.
Marble Falls tied Davenport, which was ranked in the top 20, 1-1 and Fredericksburg 0-0 before losing to Canyon Lake, which was state-ranked, 3-0.
“And on top of that, we had three games that we lost by one point, and we had several opportunities on goal,” Miller said. “And we just couldn’t finish. “Sometimes sports goes that way and I think a lot of it had to do with just the mental side of being in such a competitive district. You’re competing every single game, and if you’re not used to that level of competition, it’s hard.”
Those one-point losses were to Long Creek Feb. 24, Fredericksburg March 6 and at Canyon Lake when the Lady Hawks scored on penalty kick in the second half.
“We were in it the whole time,” she said of the Canyon Lake loss. “We missed a couple of opportunities in front of the goal and then they got a handball in the box. Against Long Creek we had 15 shots on goal and couldn’t make one. I don’t want to call it bad luck. It was just us. We just didn’t take care of what we needed to offensively at times. It’s unfortunate because we’re a really good team. They had to overcome a lot this season with having a new back line and having to trust some younger players and losing a big part (of our team) – one of our senior leaders very early on.”
The program says good-bye to seniors Cali Brydon, Ruby Carrillo, Giselle Hernandez, captain Dulce Macias, Ava McNamara, Mia Vargas and captain Avrie Wallace. They were in the program in 2024 when Marble Falls returned to the playoffs for the first time in years. It is projected to return 11 lettermen, including sophomore goalie Taylor Brydon.
“They’ve been a huge part of this program,” Miller said of the seniors. “A lot of them have been on varsity for four years, and they’ve all been in the program as a whole for four years as well. And so they’re very close with the team. They’ve been really good leaders, especially when I came in as a new coach (last season), picking two of them as new captains and those two have been our captains for two years now and did a great job. I think they were just a really good group of girls. They definitely showed leadership with the younger kids coming in, and I know they’re going to be greatly missed by everyone in the program.”
CAPTION: Sophomore goalie Taylor Brydon, a two-year letterman, played well at Fischer Canyon Lake. Only a penalty kick was the difference in the match. Photo by Daniel Clifton
