“The players were a little nervous coming out with the number of people that were here, and that had them a bit stiff at first,” Loftin said. “That’s a big win for us, we beat them last time 1-0 and it was close but tonight we took care of business. I’m just proud of them.
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Tuesday was an important day for the Katy Tigers girls soccer team for multiple reasons,
The Tigers had already locked up a spot in the playoff and knew their seeding, but it was more than that for Katy.
For the seniors, it was their last home game of the season, and it was also Katy head coach Dianne Loftin’s final home game before her retirement.
That was more than enough motivation for Katy, as the Tigers came out 4-0 winners over Taylor, giving them confidence heading into the final game of the district season.
“We we’re extra motivated heading into this game,” said Rebecca Partyka, a senior midfielder for the Tigers. “It wasn’t just about winning for us, we wanted to show why we made it to the playoffs in the first place. We struggled a bit when we faced Taylor the first time and we showed what we could do today.”
It didn’t take long for the Tigers to make their presence felt, as it took just 13 minutes for the Tigers to get their first goal. Kailey Adams latched on to a pass from Partyka and turned to shoot from outside the box on the right side of the field, scoring to give the Tigers an advantage.
Katy was dominant for the whole match, and kept pressing until the 27th minute, when Ashley Albornoz had a ball drop to her in the box and volleyed it in to double the Katy lead.
“A big thing tonight for us was that we finished,” Loftin said. “We had some opportunities in the first round against them and we didn’t finish the ball, but tonight, we got those opportunities and we finished them. We also had a couple players out with injuries and we had players step up and play really well filling in. I’m just proud of them, they’ve been a team all year. They don’t count on one person, everyone makes plays and that really has been the secret to their success.”
It was more of the same from Katy in the second half. Taylor came out and had a strong chance early, but a strong defensive effort from a number of Katy players in front of goal kept the Mustangs scoreless by blocking multiple shots just a few yards from the goal.
Eventually, the Tigers settled into the second and Adams notched her second goal of the game when in a mess in front of goal happened the ball fell to her and she was able to tap it in. Partyka joined the goal party five minutes later, sealing the game on a 20-yard free kick that she slammed into the left-hand corner.
“The players were a little nervous coming out with the number of people that were here, and that had them a bit stiff at first,” Loftin said. “That’s a big win for us, we beat them last time 1-0 and it was close but tonight we took care of business. I’m just proud of them.
Katy will finish District 19-6A play against Morton Ranch on Friday before preparing for the playoffs.
“We want to go as long as we can,” Partyka said. “We just have to make sure we keep working hard in practice and keep pushing. We have to beady for any opponent.”