By Tim Fleischer

Editor-in-Chief

Salado Lady Eagles shut out Wichita Falls Lady Coyotes, 2-0, in the 4A Region 1 semi-final soccer match, scoring both goals in the early part of the second half.

Cassie Vargas stole the ball, passing it downfield, where  Sydney Lange put the ball into the Wichita Falls net on an assist from Haley Piatak to go up 1-0 over the Coyotes with 34 minutes left in the second half.

Ashlyn Williams stole the ball, kicking it to Shelby Hollywood who passed it to Piatak who kicked it past Coyote goalkeeper Aidan Herrera for the second goal with 27:22 left in the match to give Salado its 2-0 lead, which the Lady Eagles held onto, but not without threats.

Fran Blancaflor recorded the shut out for Salado, but had to make nine saves in order to keep it. The Lady Coyotes were on target nine of their 13 shots. Blancaflor’s most impressive save came when the Lady Eagles had a 2-0 lead and she laid herself across the ground to keep Brooklyn Amador’s close shot from getting in.

Wichita Falls took shots early in the match, with Aliyah White missing in the second minute of the match and Blancaflor making her first save against White less than 30 seconds later at 37:55 mark.

Rice was the first Lady Eagle to take a shot, saved by Herrera at the 31:20 mark.

The Lady Coyotes had misses by Alinessa Salinas and Brooklyn Amador with the 23:17 and 22:40 marks respectively in the first half.

Hollywood took her first shot on target at 21:34, saved by Herrera.

Less than a minute later, Herrera made a save against Vargas’s first shot attempt.

Blancaflor defended Malaysia Larque’s shot with 122:48 left in the first half. The Lady Eagles were able to defend against a Coyote corner kick with 5:42 left in the first half. 

Sydney Lange missed a shot with 4:54 left in the first and Lexi Rice missed a shot with 3:36 left in the first.

Wichita Falls opened the second half with a miss by Jayden Johnson three minutes into play.

Salado answered by getting the ball within the box where Piatak and Rice both missed, Rice’s shot hitting the crossbar.

Just seconds after Lange’s goal gave Salado a 1-0 lead, Blancaflor made saves against Amador and Annalisa Salinas to keep her shut out intact. She made six of her nine saves in the second half of the match.

Salado will face either Stephenville or San Elizario in the Region Final.