History made as Lady Apaches secures first-ever playoff berth

AUSTIN — It wasn’t going to be possible without some help but the Gonzales Lady Apaches (6-6-0) had the stars align just right to clinch their first-ever playoff berth in their young program’s history.

Gonzales traveled to Austin, needing a win against the Eastside Memorial Lady Panthers (1-11-0) while also needing a win from state-ranked Giddings (12-0-0) over Smithville (5-6-1) to get to the playoffs.

The team got just that, a 4-0 victory over the Lady Panthers and Giddings knocked off Smithville 13-0, in impressive fashion, to move Gonzales to fourth in the standings.

“This feels good because we put in a lot of hard work this season,” Gonzales head coach Jenna Philips said. “Early in the season we saw a lot of losses and a lot of setbacks but hard work pays off eventually and it paid off this year.”

In Austin, the Lady Apaches struggled early on with spacing as well as getting the ball past the goal keeper during their attacks.

“First half, spacing and communication were killer for us,” Philips explained. “We really didn’t have any communication in the backfield right off the bat and that might have been from jitters. We started off kind of slow in the first half but then picked it up a bit more in the second half. Just took us a little bit more in that second half to warm up.”

The Lady Apaches got their first goal of the night with 29:41 left in the first half off a set piece. Fernanda Velazquez took the corner and it bounced around the box until it found freshman Annabelle Rodriguez’s feet who kicked it in for the goal from about five yards out.

Later in the half, multiple attackers such as Bethany Gayton and Ashlynn Tastch would get deep in the box but Eastside Memorial’s keeper’s aggression didn’t allow the attackers to set their shot.

“We noticed that we were taking shots just straight off the goalie, we weren’t really setting our shots up,” Philips said. “We were hesitating and taking a little too long. And I told them ‘you got to vary your shots, we can’t shoot straight at the goalie every time, it’s not going to work.’”

By the second half, the Lady Apaches corrected their mistakes, taking shots from further distances as goals came in from Seidy Villegas, Velazquez and Gayton to give Gonzales the 4-0 win.

“They did a good job about varying it up in the second half and getting those side shots and the high posts,” Philips noted.

“I think they all did a really good job tonight,” she continued. “We are pushing teamwork and family and it takes everybody, not just one person. I think they really stepped up in leadership as a whole, even a lot of my freshmen have really been stepping up and becoming leaders. I see a good future for everybody.”

One player that stuck out vocally was Velazquez who not only facilitated the ball from midfield but also barked out instructions to her teammates.

“She’s doing a good job vocally as a leader,” Philips said. “She has that mentality to be a natural teacher and she’s doing a really good job with our young ones who still may not know everything and need a little help and a little guidance.”

The win was Gonzales’ third straight after taking down Smithville last Tuesday. The Lady Apaches needed that win to stay in playoff contention.

“That really picked up our confidence, that win against Smithville,” Philips said. “They kind of went from there and had a good roll going and we just tried to keep that momentum. It worked out for us.”

The team would go on to beat Cameron Yoe on Friday and finish the streak with the win Monday. Meanwhile, Smithville lost four straight games to drop out of the playoffs.

The Gonzales Lady Apaches now await their playoff matchup for next week where they will take on the District 25-4A champion. A site and a date has yet to be announced.