Burnet girls soccer loses to Lorena
CAPTION: Valeria Lemus is one several Lady Dawgs competing at home this weekend. Photo by Martelle Ludecke/Luedecke Photography
The Burnet High School girls soccer lost to Lorena 4-0 Dec. 30.
The Lady Leopards led 1-0 at the half.
“Lorena was very good and we didn’t play well at all,” Lady Dawgs head coach Doug Ketcham said. “At one point we were missing four starters, so that takes a toll. I did some stuff in the second half, just to see if it would work. And it did not. We’re going to learn from it and get better.”
The Lady Dawgs will host its fourth annual Bulldog Classic Thursday-Saturday, Jan. 8-10.
They begin pool play against Bandera at 10 a.m. and Killeen Ellison at 4 p.m. both on Thursday and finish against Sweetwater at 10 a.m. Friday all at Bulldog Field. The results of pool play determine who, when and where the Lady Dawgs play Friday afternoon when the tournament goes into bracket play.
Other participating squads include Little River Academy, Salado, Killeen Chaparral and Sealy.
All teams are guaranteed five matches, which means the Burnet Middle School Stadium also will be used.
“It’s nice so we can play two games at a time and gives us plenty of time to get everything done,” Ketcham said.
He has specifics he wants to see from the Lady Dawgs.
“I’d like to see us come out a little stronger and play with a little more intensity than we’ve had,” he said. “Because of the way the (Christmas) break is, it’s tough. We had one practice before we played (Lorena), so it made it a little more difficult to get our intensity back up. They had the rest of the week off after that, so I felt like we were just a little flat coming out.”
The coach said he plans to “change quite a bit what we’ve been doing” in terms of scheme.
“It didn’t match what the girls’ capabilities are, so we’re going to change our approach and see if that helps us, because we’re struggling to score goals without Brook (Oliva),” he said. “So that’s one problem. And so we’re going to have to create other ways of scoring. I have a good idea who the starters are and who the subs are who are really going to contribute.”
The Lady Dawgs begin District 25-4A play at Georgetown Gateway at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 20. The district has 11 members, so the district chair has divided play into groups based on enrollment. Burnet, which would go into the Division I playoff bracket, will play other schools with similar enrollment numbers twice and face district members that will go into the Division II bracket or small schools only once.
Burnet plays those Division II schools first during the month of January. In February and March the Lady Dawgs will play Jarrell, Austin Northeast, Austin Navarro, Austin LBJ and Austin Travis twice.
Ketcham saw three district members — Liberty Hill Legacy Ranch, Lago Vista and Jarrell — during the holiday.
“So I have a good idea what they’re going to bring,” he said. “And so we’re going to start preparing for them. Now it’s kind of what our focus is going to be.”
CAPTION: Savannah Griffin and the Lady Dawgs aim to play well during their own Bulldog Classic this weekend. Photo by Martelle Luedecke/Luedecke Photography
