After more than a decade of battles against the crosstown rival Hays Lady Rebels, the Lehman Lady Lobo soccer program Friday accomplished a feat none of their predecessors could.
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By virtue of a gusty 4-2 win over the Hays Friday, Lehman scored the program’s first-ever season sweep over the Lady Rebels. Fueling Lehman’s win Friday was a pair of clutch goals scored in the second half.
“A very, very important win to be honest with you,” Lehman head coach Sean Dickson said. “A setback would make it a struggle, and we still have a lot of games left in front of us, three games in front of us. Beating a quality team like Hays hopefully gives us even more confidence.”
Each goal matters this late in the season and Lehman found two key ones in the second half with scores by Megan Morris and Alyssa Ponce.
Morris broke up a 2-2 tie in the 25th minute of the second half on a penalty kick that was given to the Lady Lobos due to a handball in the 18-yard box by Hays. With 12 minutes remaining in the match, Lehman extended its lead to 4-2 on a shot from Ponce that deflected off the Hays goalkeeper's hands.
“Megan is a very composed player,” Dickson said about the key penalty kick. “Very methodical player. With that composure, she put it in the back of the goal.”
In the first half, Lehman players found themselves down 1-0 in the first six minutes of the match when Hays Rebel Kayli Wagner struck the back of the net on a one-on-one opportunity. The Lady Lobos answered quickly with a goal from Hannah Loya who deployed a spin move, which freed her up for an open shot that she nailed in the top left corner of the net.
“I just spun off of the back, dribbled it in and took my shot,” Loya said. “I was just feeling the play. Whatever was in the moment.”
Two minutes later, Lehman took a 2-1 lead off a corner-kick score from Karis Hickey. Hickey’s shot made its way into a crowded box and deflected off multiple players before going into the goal.
Hays tied the game at 2-2 just before the half with a shot from Izel Gaitan.
“You want your kids to bounce back from adversity,” Dickson said. “That early punch in the mouth and for them to basically get up off the floor and come back with two goals showed the competitive edge.”
Lehman sits in third place in District 25-6A with just three games remaining in the regular season. Back-to-back road matchups against Anderson and Bowie, two teams also fighting with Lehman for the third and fourth spot, will likely determine the outcome of playoff seeding in the district.
The Lady Lobos host Akins for the team’s final home match on March 11.
Hays’ final home game will be March 6 against Lake Travis.
