“I knew it was going to be a difficult game. We were playing the second place team, at their place with their fans and they wanted to knock us off and give us our first loss of the year,” said Lady Trojan head coach Johnny Gonzales.
“We had some injured players, illness on the team and I knew we were not going to be at 100 percent.”
The Jaguars struck first with an early first half goal from Emily Villanueva that got by a less-experienced Beeville defender for a 1-0 lead.
Two first half injuries made it difficult to get going offensively for the Lady Trojans.
Midfielder Mary Larakers was forced out temporarily with a sore shoulder and Alison Patterson left earlier with a knee injury.
The Lady Trojans were down by one at the half but felt they could rebound in the second half.
“We talked at halftime and I told the Lady Trojans that if you were on the field you were going to have to step up and play at a higher level than what Floresville was playing at. The team responded by playing a great second half, shutting down any attacks by Floresville the rest of the night,” Gonzales said.
Jade Trevino and Tori Munoz stepped up and played well in the midfield, according to their coach. The changes in the second half continued as defender Taylor Lawson was also sidelined with what looked like a knee injury.
“I had to put Victoria Elizalde at sweeper and Alisa Patterson at outside back and both those players along with Katelynn Willeford and Cari Elizalde took charge after that and dominated the Floresville offense,” Gonzales said.
The lone Beeville goal came on a Heather McKinney cross that Larakers was able to slam home and into the back of the net. That made it 1-1 with the Lady Trojans dominating the game but there was just 10 minutes left on the clock.
The Lady Trojans got a good chances at the winning goal but kicks went just high or wide.
“Munoz played a great second half and ran down every ball and gave us plenty of chances to score,” Gonzales said.
“We played with a lot of heart, especially with so many injuries and illness on the team.”
The Lady Trojans remain two games in front of the rest of the district 57-4A pack with a 4-0-1 record. They are 15-0-2 on the season. Pleasanton (is at 2-1-2 while Floresville improved to 2-0-3 in district and are the closest contenders to the Lady Trojans.
The Beeville ladies were in San Antonio on Tuesday night to meet the Southside Lady Cardinals in the first match of the district’s second round. On Friday, the girls will host Pleasanton.
“We hope to get everyone healthy for the second half of the district race,” Gonzales said.
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