Seven Lakes had been knocking on the door for years.

Year after year the Spartans would push their way into the third round of the playoffs, but fall just short of the regional tournament. The Spartans kept pushing and kept fighting though, and on Monday, the team finally got its reward.

Seven Lakes finally broke through on Tuesday, beating Memorial 2-0 in the regional quarterfinals and clinching a spot in the Region III-6A Tournament for the first time in nine years behind two first half goals and a strong defensive performance.

“It’s just crazy and I’m so proud of everyone,” said Seven Lakes senior captain Wagoner Towsen. “It’s something that we strived for but we knew would be so hard coming into this year. This team has so much heart and that’s what got us here, there were changes and growing but we did it and I’m so proud.”

Seven Lakes had grown over the course of the season and its continued into the playoffs. The Spartans got past round one with a 1-0 victory before playing even better in the second round, winning 3-0 before beating Memorial by two goals in the regional quarterfinals, getting back to the regional tournament for the seventh time in school history. 

The Spartans came out counter attacking in the first half with the wind in their face, but even without possession, Seven Lakes created chances and got ahead in the 22nd minute, when freshman winger Sienna Marchitello spun past a center back and fired a shot from the left side of the 18-yard box into the bottom of the near post, giving Seven Lakes an early advantage. The Spartans kept pushing even with the lead and got a second in the 38th minute as Madison Holland raced past the left back and took a shot from the right side of the box that snuck under the goalkeeper and into the back of the net.

“It’s credit to the players,” said Seven Lakes head coach Kaitlyn Eidson. “They stuck with it, they were organized defensively and they took their chances. We executed well and put our chances away and that’s exactly how we need to play to get results.”

The Spartans came out in the second half and dominated the rest of the game, keeping possession, creating chances and playing strong defense the rest of the way to seal the win and the team got contributions all over, from Carly Drescher making important saves, to the defense stepping up in key moments and the midfield keeping possession and helping out both offensively and defensively. 

“This has been a process and some of these players have put in the time and work for years to get to this point,” Eidson said. “They committed to the process and never stopped working. I’m really proud of all of them for that, they worked and strived to be here and they made this happen.”

The Spartans will play the winner of Atascocita and Pearland in the regional semifinals on Friday. The Spartans are excited for the opportunity to keep going and know they’ll be ready no matter who it is that stands in their way.

“We all wanted this so badly,” Holland said. “We wanted to get past this round so badly and to  keep this season going. Everyone was hyping each other up and making sure we stayed in the game. We just have to do that same thing on Friday and we’ll be ready, we’re all so excited.”