Dripping Springs' soccer season underway

The soccer season reminds one of the pilot who is practicing the touch and go landing technique.

The official season begins on Jan.1 and within a week or two, the teams have landed in the middle of district play. When your program is as good as Dripping Springs High School soccer has been, one has to find a couple of top-ranked tourneys or opponents to quickly test where you are in the strength and weakness department.

The DSHS Tigers, state tournament entrants last year, only return two starters from that team and will quickly have to put the parts back together as they compete in a strong district this year.

Traditionally, the Tigers have entered the Dr. Pink Frisco tournament, which provides them competition from the hotbed of soccer. This year, they played hard and came close in losing to McKinney North High School 3-0, tying Frisco’s Reedy High School 1-1 — with Walker Nurmi scoring the goal and Aidan Burgess the assist. Mason Russell scored the lone goal as the Tigers lost to Frisco 2-1.

The Lady Tigers, the 2021 defending state champs, were upset in the regional finals last year. They have enough experience returning to be expected in the hunt again this year. They entered the National Elite Prep Showcase in Fort Worth, losing to Southlake’s Carroll Senior High School 5-1 and defeating Grapevine High School 3-2. Next, they entered the Highland Park tourney, losing to Midlothian High School 2-1 and defeating Midland’s Legacy High School 6-0. The district opener saw the Lady Tigers blank Austin High School 5-0.