A starting temperature of 27 degrees, a wind chill of 13, and intermittent spells of freezing drizzle, sleet and snow flurries transformed Gordon Wood Stadium into a winter wonderland for the Brownwood Lady Lions, who stunned the Stephenville Honeybees in a penalty kick shootout Tuesday to end the first half of District 5-4A soccer action alone in first place.
Knotted a 1 at the end of regulation, Brownwood converted three goals in the extra session to just two for Stephenville, as the Lady Lions moved to 4-0 in league play at the halfway point, and 14-3-1 for the season.
“This is my fifth year in Brownwood and this is my first time to get a win over Stephenville and I’m so glad it’s with this group,” said Lady Lions head coach Alexis Walker. “They work hard every single day and they love to come to practice which is the foundation of it all. To be able to celebrate them now at the end of the first round of district with us being ahead is something so, so special and I’m so proud of them. There’s not enough words.”
The shootout began with Braycee Lee and Ryleigh Schaffer converting goals for Brownwood.
“Our first two girls drained it which was great,” Walker said. “We do PKs at the end every practice. My second year here we got in a bunch of PK matches and didn’t have a lot of knowledge about that. Now we know how to be successful.”
Goal keeper Noemi Ceniceros made a save after Stephenville’s second attempt.
Knotted at 2 going to the fourth kicker, Lady Lion Alma Bernal found the net after Stephenville’s attempt deflected off the cross bar.
Leading 3-2 heading into the final round, Brownwood needed either a save or a goal to secure the win. Ceniceros then deflected her second shot of the extra session to push the Lady Lions to their fourth consecutive district victory.
“Our goalkeeper, since her sophomore year since hasn’t lost in a PK battle and that’s a testament to her,” Walker said of Ceniceros. “I give her all the credit and she deserves all the credit. Some games she doesn’t get a lot of action but this was a situation where she could shine and she did just that.”
The Lady Lions trailed 1-0 at halftime after surrendering a goal following a corner kick with 14:09 left in the first half, but Stephenville was stymied the rest of regulation.
“In the first half we gave up a corner kick and normally we play a zone marked up on a corner kick, but I told them let’s go back to the drawing board at halftime and we went back to a straight man to man, just like basketball,” Walker said. “We switched to that and were successful in not giving up another goal.”
Then with 31:20 left in the contest, a bit good fortune fell Brownwood’s way which led to the tying goal by Braycee Lee.
“It was a handball inside the box, it just came up and hit one of the Stephenville girls on the hand,” Walker said. “It was an unfortunate situation for them, but Braycee Lee was able to put the ball in the back in the net. We talked about putting ourselves in a situation to be successful, and that’s the girl I picked to go up to the line for that.”
As for overcoming both a halftime deficit and the frigid elements, Walker said, “I told them coming in, yes it’s going to be cold, yes it’s going to be sleeting, but you have to decide you want to compete hard and they did a really good job of that. Even at halftime when we were down 1-0, I told them keep competing and give me 40 more minutes and they really did that. They put themselves in a position to be successful.”
The 5-4A front-running Lady Lions begin the second half of district action at home against Lampasas at 5 p.m. Friday.