Canyon Lake Soccer M.A.S.H. Floresville, 2-1

Junior Jasmine Smith gets her kicks in.

The Lady Hawks (5-2-2) took care of business in beating Floresville (8-3-1) at Hawk Stadium last Friday night as all the points scored came in the first half of play.

Canyon Lake had four starters out with injuries while many of other players were banged up. That is what made this MASH unit even more remarkable.

Head Coach Jeffrey Vaughn looked like a champion puzzle player as he fit the pieces around to come out with a well deserved win over a Floresville Jaguar club.

Moving the Freshman Goal Keeper to a starter, the Senior Goal Keeper to Defender, the Midfielder/Defender to Sweeper, you get the idea. The Hawks were playing positions that were not normal for this young but resilient team.

Young and old players was very evident throughout this contest. Freshman Christy Fowler scored the first goal at the 16 minute mark.

“I saw the ball coming and thought one thing….shoot,” Fowler interjected. “The time froze.”

Christy Fowler starting her break to Jaguars net.

Another Freshman, Mia Hernandez was playing sweeper for the first time ever and responded like she had been born there, which helped seal the end of the game.

“It was kind of hard because I had never played sweeper,” Hernandez said. “I knew about where I was going to play this morning and my day had been horrible.”

After a corner kick that resulted in Floresville tying the score, Senior Danielle Carpenter responded at the 24 minute mark, which turned out to be enough points for the game.

“Perseverance…with all the injuries, we had to adapt and play with what we had,” Carpenter started.

Carpenter had moved to midfield after intermission because of another game injury to Andrea Jacobs as she limped off the field.

“Because Annie (Jacobs) got hurt it made the whole game different,” Carpenter hammered home.

Talking about how freshman had come to the rescue, Carpenter responded, “Mia (Hernandez) is an amazing ball handler.”

Another Freshman, Wynne Clark started as goal keeper and had a couple of anxious moments, especially as the game was closing.

With less than five minutes in the game, the Jaguars got loose with a point blank shot on goal. But Clark stayed her ground and the kick went wide.

“I was scared and we were lucky,” Clark said. “Annie hurt her leg last game and this became a confidence builder. I touched the ball and the game slowed.”

A game where players took there orders and performed at a higher than expected level of expertise, this game will go a long way as the team prepares for district play in two weeks.

“We are where we need to be,” Coach Vaughn said. “Tonight girls stepped up and played, we outplayed them and kept them from scoring (in the second half).”

Senior Danielle Carpenter getting ready to use the Hammer.

Coach Vaughn continued, “We had four starters out and we put 11 on the field and we were the best tonight and played as a team.”

The Hawks will have a full week after next week’s game to heal some injuries and before district play starts.

“That is why I scheduled a number of days before district,” Coach Vaughn finished. “Because of years past when we had injured players after tournaments, this break will allow us to rest and get healed. I’m a Praying man on injuries.”

The M.A.S.H. unit had everything but a Red Cross and tents, but the doctors inside can still perform miracles as they move to Pleasanton next Tuesday as the team prepares to cure more injuries.