Hawks Fall Short in Playoff Bid, Losing to Liberty Hill, 2-0

Coach Ryan Tierney with (from left to right), Iola Favell, Christy Fowler, Mia Hernandez, and Cassandra Gomez

Canyon Lake lost a hard fought Area Round Playoff against Liberty Hill, 2-0 last Thursday at The Hawk Stadium.

Liberty Hill had given up just 18 goals for the season as their defense was the difference in this game as the Panthers came out of the gates firing and going up 1-0 with less than a minute gone in the first half.

Another score five minutes into this game would be more than enough for a win as Canyon Lake threatened on several tries just coming up empty.

The Hawks had Alexa Ramos as their goalie which turned out to be a double edge sword as CL was also giving up one of their more accomplished scorers with the trade off.

A wind that was blowing south to north also caused some missed opportunities as Ramos kicks would clear the whole field allowing the Panthers goalie to retrieve the ball without a Hawk being able to run down the ball and a chance for a goal.

“You don’t practice that,” Head Coach Ryan Tierney said while commenting on how the wind affected play. “Soccer is rehearsal and playing with your head up….we were able to control the ball better in the second half but we needed to have more speed added to our play.”

“We looked flat defensively when the game started,” Coach Tierney said.

This Hawk team was a scoring machine for most of this year as they had their most goals (61 goals) since starting in 2009.

Canyon Lake will lose 4 Seniors and will still be a young team next season as they will start to up their game before the first kick next year.

CL was shut-out 5 times matching the 2009 year, this season, those two teams had a lot in common in scoring also.

                shut-out            goals scored
 2009-10            5                   40
 2010-11            9                   26
 2011-12           11                   20
 2012-13           10                   29
 2013-14            8                   22
 2014-15            5                   61

The ReSporter talked with the Seniors after the game on what they thought on the game.

Christy Fowler Cassandra Gomez
Iola Favell Mia Hernandez

The ReSporter: What would you tell the group of players coming back for next year?

Mia Hernandez: “Never give up!”

“We need to appreciate each other and realize that we are all teammates and love one another.”

The ReSporter: Did the wind have any affect on your play?

Christy Fowler: “It made it hard to run and it felt like something we were dragging.”

The ReSporter: It seemed like we might have had a chance if we could have caught up the ball after the wind helped get it past their last line of defense….

Iola Favell: “We just misjudged the ball and then you just get caught up into the game and I would just forget that the ball would go past us.”

Christy Fowler: “Yes, we needed to just want the ball.”

The ReSporter: You had a lot of shots on goal in the second half even going against he wind.

Christy Fowler: “I thought their defense just got overconfident in the second half.”

The ReSporter: Any last words?

Mia Hernandez: “Play through the pain and have fun,” as she reiterated what she wanted the younger players to take as advice from the Seniors.

Iola Favell: “What we did this year will be something you can build on.”

The ReSporter: Thanks girls for giving and playing for Canyon Lake as this will be something you will always look back on and the fans are happy you gave your all this year.

Go Hawks!!