Playoff run ends for both Manvel teams

May 19, 2009

MANVEL — It was fun while it lasted, but the Manvel boys and girls soccer teams both ended their playoff run with the boys going out first to Houston Austin 1-0 and then the girls dropping a 1-0 heart-breaker to district rival Texas City last Friday.

Austin scored a goal in the first half and made it stand at halftime. Both teams battled in the second half for 40 minutes, but the Mavericks were unable to score and the match ended with Austin winning 1-0 to advance to the next round while Manvel's season came to an end.

However, the Mavericks did win their first soccer playoff match in school history with a first round victory over Galena Park.

On the other hand, the Manvel girls won their first two playoff matches with a 5-0 win over C.E. King and a 1-0 win over Houston Reagan giving the Lady Mavericks their first kpost-season soccer wins in school history.

Manvel and Texas City split their two matches during district competition with Texas City taking the first match 3-2 and the Lady Mavericks winning the second round showdown 1-0. Just the closeness of their previous two matches was an indication that the playoff contest would be another gut wrenching battle.

Indeed it was as both teams battled to a 0-0 tie after the first 40 minutes of action.

As the two teams continued to challenge the other in the second half, Texas City finally got the opening they needed with 28 minutes left in the contest as sophomore midfielder Chelsey Coffey fired in the only goal of the match from 25 yards out giving Texas City the lead and ultimately the 1-0 victory.

Coffey had missed a penalty kick in the first half so her goal made up for the earlier misfire.

Texas City (10-7-5) played most of the first half on the Manvel side of the field using their speed to take seven shots on goal while Manvel could manage only one shot.

"We had so many chances in the first half because we were a lot faster than their back four," head coach Steve Allan said. "I said at halftime that we just needed one decent shot where we stayed composed. I knew we could get that after the first half we had."

However, Manvel head coach Brittany McGuire made some adjustments for the second half to counter the speed of Texas City by moving her sweeper back on defense which limited Texas City to only a couple of open shots in the second half.

One of those shots was the goal by Coffey which she fired from the left side of the field and the ball took flight into the top right corner of the net from 25 yards out.

Manvel had two shots on goal in the second half, but failed to get the one that would have sent the match into overtime.

Texas City advances to the regional quarterfinals while Manvel's outstanding season comes to an end.

Congratulations to both Manvel teams for setting the bar a little higher for future teams.

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