Eight teams from the area went into the first round of the playoffs and after a slew of Thursday games only three teams survived to move on to the second round.
CLASS 6A: The Harlingen Lady Cardinals got a stern bi-district round against a tough Edinburg Vela team. Kay-laniVasquez and Kaylee Gushwa each finished with a brace on the night, while Monique Rodriguez and Clair Reed scored one goal a piece to give the Lady Cardinals a well-earned 6-5 OT victory.
“Vela was a good team and they fought us hard the whole way,” said Harlingen head coach Debra Galvan. “My girls eased up after the second goal and Vela started to win the 50/50s and going first at the ball. At the half we were down and knew we were not ready to go home with a loss so we fought back hard and came away with a victory.
“The game showed how stressful and tough a playoff game can be. The girls wanted to continue our run so they gave it their all to finish. Our saying for this game was ‘start strong, finish stronger’ and that’s what we did.”
The Lady Cardinals will now move into the area round to take on the McAllen Lady Bulldogs at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Edcouch-Elsa.
Another District 32-6A team to advance was the Harlingen South Lady Hawks. Mellory Grannum’s strike was enough to see the Lady Hawks past PSJA Memorial. After the game, Harlingen South Coach Omar Pedroza said “it was the toughest bi-district game in his 21 years as head coach.”
The Lady Hawks will be back in action against Laredo United at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Roma High School.
CLASS 4A: The La Feria Lionettes were also among the teams that moved onto the area round of the playoffs after a 1-0 win over Zapata on Thursday. The Lionettes will now face Somerset on Tuesday at Beeville Jones High School at 6 p.m.
