MINERAL WELLS – The Brownwood Lady Lions’ postseason run proved to be a short one in 2024, as the Region I-4A bi-district round of the playoffs marked the culmination of the season following a 3-1 loss to the Waxahachie Life Lady Mustangs here Tuesday.
The Lady Lions (14-10-1), the fourth seed out of District 5-4A, trailed District 6 Waxahachie Life (24-3-1) by a 1-0 count at halftime, but a goal given up to Lady Mustang Paige Hubbard just 2:01 into the second changed the complexion of the contest.
“That really set the tone for the second half,” said Lady Lions head coach Alexis Walker. “When knew in watching Waxahachie Life that they had a lot of speed and a lot of ball skill, but you can’t knock our girls’ effort, they gave everything they had. I had been asking the girls the last two weeks to learn how to fight, and they learned how to fight today.”
Life tacked on an insurance goal with 25:10 left, the second of the contest by Zanae Nylund, which put Brownwood in a 3-0 hole.
The Lady Lions refused to back down, however, as Jacklyn Lewis scored a pure hustle goal with 18:10 left. Then it appeared Brownwood crept within a goal as a 40-yard free kick by Alma Bernal reached the Life goalkeeper, who bobbled the ball before corralling it, just at the time Molly Oliver collided with her, separating the ball which rolled into the net with 5:30 remaining. Colliding with the goal keeper when she has the ball in her hands inside the box is not permissible, though, and the goal was wiped off.
“Down three goals we still showed fight and scored a goal,” Walker said. “Jacklyn’s going to give me everything she has no matter what the score is. She’s one of the ones that takes advantage of every opportunity in front of her and I’m glad she was able to get us on the board. That’s something we haven’t been doing much of the last few weeks.”
Reflecting on the 2024 campaign as a whole, Walker said, “This was a great season for the girls in the way that they played together and played for each other, and that stems from the senior leadership. We had three great captains that were seniors, Molly Oliver, Ava Brownlee and Reagan Ratliff. To lose them, we’re losing leadership and that’s what I just talked about to some of the juniors. It’s going to be time for them to step up going into the offseason, to be the leaders, the voices of reason, and it all starts now.”
