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It has been a great year for the two Dripping Springs soccer teams and the end looked bright. However, in the end, the soccer teams ended up reversing last year's positions. Last year the Tigers were stopped 1-0 by Brownsville Porter and the Lady Tigers went on to win the state title. This year the Tigers (25- 3) were able to defeat Sharyland 2-0 and then got their revenge with a 2-0 blanking of Porter to send them to state for the first time since 2010. The big game for the Tigers was the Rouse quarterfinal game in which pen alty kicks advanced the Tigers after the 1-1 score.
The Lady Tigers were defending state champions and undefeated (25-0). At regional, they took on a familiar foe in the form of Gregory-Portland. Hannah Gamez, Riley Sisson and Ellie Hodsden each had a goal in the first half as they went on to win this battle 3-1. This brought the Lady Tigers to the regional finals against an even more familiar foe, Boerne Champion. They had played the Lady Chargers twice in district play defeating them 2-0, 2-1. Certainly close enough not to be overconfident and they were not. They knew getting back to state would not be easy. And it wasn't. Just like the boys Rouse game, the game ended in a 1-1 tie after overtimes and were denied their return to state to defend their title by virtue of 3-1 penalty kicks.
The Tigers regional quarterfinal game with Rouse was truly a wellmatched game. At the end of regulation it was tied 1-1. The next tiebreaker is OT. After two, it goes to penalty kicks. The two could not score after two OT's so it went to the penalty kicks. In that phase the Tigers converted five of six. During regulation it was a Brendan Gajewski goal and an assist by York Merrill that tied the game. The PK's were made by Adam Knutson, Ricky Alvarez, Gajewski, Javier Ortega and Ian Driggers.
It is hoped the reversal of roles will be followed by the state championship as the Lady Tigers attained. The semifinals game will be against Katy Jordan (18-6-2) on April 14 at the Georgetown Birkelbach field. Gametime is 5:00pm. The championship game will take place on Saturday, April 16 at 1:30pm.
