Having clinched the 25-5A district crown, the Dripping Springs Tigers boys soccer team took it to the Reagan Raiders 6-0 Feb. 12 to finish up the regular season.
The match was the last home tilt for eight seniors on the Dripping Springs squad, pushing the program to finish with a win. Early on, however, Reagan put up a formidable fight.
During the first ten minutes of the match, neither team put together any real runs. Reagan got the game’s first legitimate shot off, but it missed wide left. Following a missed shot from Gabe Molander, Dripping Springs got on the board first when Ethan Roberts’ header snuck past the Reagan keeper for the match’s first goal. Max Gonzales recorded the assist on the goal.
Gonzales didn’t stop there. After a pair of solid Tiger runs at the 18- and 15-minute mark, Gonzales took charge, and unleashed a 20-yard laser that found net to give the Tigers their second goal of the match with 10 minutes to go until halftime. Just two minutes later, Dripping Springs’ Eli Sass scored a goal and the Tigers led 3-0 at the half.
Things got sassy to start the second half. Sass got off two great shots in the first five minutes that were both saved, but he would not let up. Sass eventually scored, blowing past the Reagan backline and finding the top right corner of the goal for his second goal and his team’s fourth. Just five minutes passed, and Sass was making things happen again, scoring his third goal to complete a hat trick. At this point, Dripping Springs led 5-0 and had clearly taken control of the match.
Reagan gave the Tigers a final push late in the game and picked up the aggressiveness. That aggressiveness backfired, however, as the Tigers were awarded a penalty kick following a rough foul on Sass. Senior Alexis Martinez promptly nailed the kick and the Tigers went on to claim the 6-0 victory. Head Coach Josh Hill’s team did what they needed to do and finished the regular season on a high note.
“It was a really good way to finish off district,” Hill said. “We played a good game. We’ve scored six goals in our last two games against good teams. Now we’ve got to regroup and get ready to go for a long playoff run.”
The Tigers head into postseason play confident and are looking to find success.
“We’re going to go into every game looking to win,” Hill said. “We’re going to get ready, refocus and, hopefully, do some good stuff.”
Dripping Springs now awaits confirmation of its opening round playoff match, which is expected to be played March 28-30. The Tigers are slated to take on San Antonio McCollum, the fourth-place team out of 26-5A, in the opening round of the playoffs. Time, date and location have not yet been determined.
