The varsity soccer team was well on their way to qualifying for the state championship. The team was four wins away and was working harder than ever to bring the gold. Wichita Falls stopped the team short, 2-1.

The players struggled, but worked hard to keep it together.

“We felt that the season was good. We had a lot of ups and downs with team chemistry but we managed to play like a team during the rest of the season,” varsity soccer defender Joel Serrano said. “We feel that we could’ve gone further but not all things go as planned.”

The players had trouble with focus.

“I think our biggest challenge was ourselves being able to stay focused as we needed to be throughout every day,” coach Bruce Reichman said.

Even through the problems they still believed they could make it.

“We are tremendously disappointed. We could have won that game and many more if we had put all our effort into the whole game,” Serrano said.

The team had little time to focus and train for the last game they played.

“We’ve been preparing for this game all season, but we were told that we would have to leave to Midland the day after we got back from New Mexico. So we pretty much had one day to practice and prepare for the game against Wichita Falls,” Serrano said.

The players feel they gave their all during their whole season.

“I feel like I could have put much more effort into the game. As for my teammates I can’t speak for them but I think they gave it their all,” Serrano said.

Reichman believed this team had the potential to win.

“We got out of our game plan a little bit, a little frustration there. We tried to pull it together it was just too much, too little, too late, but we did have a very good shot at winning,” Reichman said.

Reichman had different expectations.

“I expected a win you know, we were in the first four minutes of the game and we went up real good. It was one to nothing and after that we got a little overconfident, we ended up conceding a goal after half time and before the end of the game they were able to score,” Reichman said.

Reichman enjoys seeing his players grow and develop.

“I enjoy watching the kids develop and grow up not only as an athlete but as a person,” Reichman said.

The players felt the team had the talent to win but there was too much problems outside the field.

“I believe we had potential to win it all, we had it all skill wise but mentally we had problems and that’s what affected us in our season and our last match,” Serrano said.

Reichman believed they had a good season.

“It wasn’t as good as we expected, our ambitions were of course to go to state, we knew we had the talent and the personnel to make it through a state championship just that we fell short, it was an okay season,” Reichman said.