The Aubrey Lady Chaparrals soccer team faced off with the Celina Lady Bobcats Tuesday night, with the Lady Bobcats handing the Lady Chaps their first loss of the season, 7-2.
It was a close contest in the first half until the reigning 4A Division I state champion Laby Bobcats found their footing midway through the first period and pulled away from the Lady Chaps to take the win.
“It’s always hard to come here to Celina, but we battled and never lost our focus,” said Kelli Baker, Aubrey head girls soccer coach. “Sometimes when you’re losing, teams can have those moments where they lose composure, and we didn’t. We kept our cool the entire [match] and got two goals, which is hard to do against them because they don’t give up goals very often.”
The familiar foes, both ranked in the Top 5 by the Texas Girls Coaches Association, were evenly matched for the first 15 minutes of the match, but Celina created a breakaway to score its first of three firsthalf goals.
The Lady Bobcats continued their scoring run in the early portion of the second half, adding their fourth goal of the match.
Senior Lady Chap Brynlee Bohannon made it a three-point game, scoring Aubrey’s first goal of the contest, but Celina continued to pour on the points, scoring three more times in the second half and taking a 7-1 lead.
Junior Landry Gannon scored the Lady Chaps’ second goal on a free kick with under four minutes left in regulation, making the final score 7-2.
“They came out ready to play, and I think that they were a little disappointed in their performance in their previous game against Wakeland, and I think we got their best foot forward today because they always step up and play us well,” Baker said. “There were also some rankings earlier online that put us above them, and I think they took that personally, so they came out and really played up to Celina level, which is top tier in 4A.”
The loss brought the Lady Chaps’ record to 4-11, but Baker said he was proud of the Lady Chaps’ effort in the match and added the team will continue to improve.
“No one gave up, and they stayed positive the whole game,” he said. “… We were really successful last year, and we believe we’re even a better team this year, so right now it’s about the little things and doing those right. We’ll go watch the film tomorrow, and we’ll figure out the small things that we did wrong.”
The Lady Chaps are scheduled to return to the pitch to meet the Pilot Point Lady Cats at 5:30 p.m. Friday on G.A. Moore Field at Massey Stadium.
