Marble Falls boys soccer sends three teams to Burnet summer league
CAPTION: junior Esteban Dominguez was a breakout star for the Mustangs during the 2025 season. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro
The Marble Falls High School boys soccer program is sending three teams to the Burnet Summer League, which starts at 7 p.m. on Thursdays in July at the Burnet Middle School stadium.
The format is 7 on 7 and matches are played on one half of the field. Therefore, two matches are played at once.
One Marble Falls team won July 10, while another tied.
Though 17 players were lost to the 2025 graduation, the Mustangs aren’t in a rebuild. That’s because of a talented junior varsity that more than held its own during District 26-4A play.
“They didn’t give up a goal in district play,” head coach Ryan Craven said. “We had a lot of guys on JV B that could start for other varsity teams.”
When the program found out about the summer league before the school year ended, Craven invited the players to participate and instructed them to pick their own teams of at least 8-10 athlets. One reason he wanted them to choose is because of where they each live, believing it would be easier for traveling.
“Making a team helps them a little bit,” the coach said. “It’s also leadership. We’re mixing in last year’s starters with young guys. We have some big-time players. A lot of kids are coming up from the junior varsity team last year.”
Craven has a couple of specifics he wants to see in the Mustangs this month.
“I want them to have fun,” he said. “I want to see them to continue to improve with the leadership. We want to see those younger guys step in and have some success.”
In the last three years, Marble Falls has won two District 25-4A crowns, finished as the District 26-4A runner-up and won three bi-district and two area titles.
District 26-4A member Fredericksburg lost to eventual Class 4A Division II champion Austin Achieve 2-1 in the regional final in 2025. Achieve was the co-District 25-4A champion with Austin Northeast and Burnet finished third. Before realignment kicked in during the 2024-25 school year, Marble Falls was in the same district with Burnet and Achieve.
It’s been a productive summer for the Mustangs. Several athletes play football and soccer, so they are attending Forge ’25, the athletic department’s summer strength and conditioning program. Once Forge ends, those who play only soccer go through sport-specific drills with the Lady Mustangs soccer team, which lasts about an hour.
Craven noted many of his soccer players have summer jobs that start early and end late.
“A lot of my kids are working from sun up to sun down,” he said. “We are a spring (semester) sport, so there’s a lot of time to recover. We’ve had a better turnout (for summer conditioning) than what we’ve had the previous five years I’ve been here.”
