Lady Apaches dropped in second district game

GONZALES — The Lady Apaches (0-2) were unable to climb out of that 5-0 first-half hole as they lost their second district game of the season, this time to Taylor (3-0), 6-1.

Gonzales gave up five first-half goals before knocking in their first score in the 54^th minute, a wide-angled goal from sophomore Brianna Gomez, before Taylor scored their final goal of the night just six minutes later to go up 6-1.

“The first half I think we started off a little cold and timid,” Gonzales’ head coach Jenna Philips said. “The second half we were warmed up and ready to go, got into that more aggressive state that we’re used to playing in, just took us a while for that first half.”

The Lady Apaches’ lack of aggression in the first half led to Taylor getting inside the box for most of their possession. All six goals scored were inside of the goal box.

Gonzales turned it around early in the second as many Lady Apaches, including players like Bethany Gayton and Seidy Villegas began to use their body more to get to the ball. Some of those plays, however, led to free kicks and yellow cards.

“The foul calls didn’t bother me as much because they’re getting first to the ball and they’re being aggressive,” Philips explained. “Because of that aggressiveness, they got more shots on goal in the second half than the first half. I think we made a good improvement. You get a foul every now and then, that’s OK. Just got to keep playing aggressive. Keep shooting that ball.”

“Seidy has been real aggressive, she’s been improving from day one,” Philips said of her aggressiveness, “I mean every day she gets better. With her being that aggressive, she’s showing my young ones that it’s OK to be aggressive that it’s OK to take those risks. Keep pushing through and I think that’s good to be leading by example.”

The lone goal of the night came from Gomez who after a corner kick launched the ball from wide left, catching Taylor’s goalkeeper off guard. Gomez’s kick got the ball to the right side of the goal, giving the Lady Apaches their sole score of the night.

“She did a very good job. It was perfect accuracy,” Philips laughed.

One of the biggest improvements the Lady Apaches saw from first half to second half was their communication.

“From first to second half [it was] our communication,” Philips said. “We didn’t talk at all in the first half. Communication was our biggest thing.”

The midfield spacing is also something the Lady Apaches will have to work on, especially in a tough district such as District 26-4A where Gonzales will have to take on state-ranked Giddings next.

“Giddings and Taylor are both state ranked,” Philips acknowledged, “those are our two toughest games first. So we kind of get those out of the way. But I have confidence that we’ll be able to take on Smithville and we got Cameron Yoe and Eastside coming up pretty soon. Just keeping that aggressiveness that we had in the second half and sticking with it, we’ll be able to be in contention for the playoffs. It’s still early.”

Gonzales travels to Giddings tonight with kickoff set at 5:15 p.m.