The match was locked at 0-0 at the end of regulation, but the Hawks were finally able to score in the first overtime period. Alvin Escobar took a great volley from the edge of the box and put the ball in the net, but Alamo Heights got a score as well and the match ended up in a shootout. Hendrickson got goals from Gabe Williams and Dustin Trandai in the shootout but Alamo Heights scored three times ending the Hawks’ season in the process.

“The boys played hard, and fought hard the entire match including the two overtime periods,” Hendrickson coach Bill Anderson said. “Hitting the post four times in regulation, once in the overtime, and once in the shootout, maybe it just wasn’t our lucky day. Alamo Heights was a very quick team and chased and harassed us over the entire field, and it was hard for the team to stay sufficiently calm to play to the best of our abilities. Regardless, we had our chances to score, but on that night, just couldn’t finish. As a team, we always try to make it about the process, always trying to improve, and this was just another game in that process, we will use this experience to help us grow stronger in the future.”

The loss concludes a great year for the Hendrickson program. The Hawks finish the year 16-4-2 and were district champions. They also reached the fourth round of the playoffs for the second year in a row which is as far as the team has ever gotten.

“As a coaching staff we were very concerned going into the season starting an entire new defense,” Anderson said. “We knew the success of the team hung in the balance. The juniors on defense stepped up and did an incredible job. Their great experience will help us again in 2013, when we install an entire new attack. The ability of these boys to transition from JV to varsity has been, and will continue to be, the key to our success. We played six JV players in the playoffs, so that will help next year. Overall, this year’s offense was even more potent than we could have predicted. At times this team was scintillating in the attack, a real pleasure to watch.”

Anderson said his coaching staff played a huge part in this year’s success.

“I also want to give a shout-out to the coaching staff,” he said. “Coach Castro, Schram and Dickey were a tremendous asset to this year’s team. The key to having a great team is for the entire program to work together in a seamless fashion. The entire staff worked countless hours to ensure that our boys were ready for the challenges they faced, and we couldn’t have this type of success if it weren’t for the hard work of the entire coaching staff.”

The loss marked the end of the road for the Hendrickson seniors as well. Williams, Trandai, Andre Tayar, Collin Lovett and the rest of the Hawk seniors have been a huge part of helping the program grow.

“We talk a lot about tradition and legacy, this year’s team followed a tradition of excellence, and passed on a legacy of success for those who follow,” Anderson said. “The senior boys represented the school with integrity and class. These are the type of young men that represent all of Pflugerville with their actions on and off the field. In their four years at the school, they lifted four undisputed district championship trophies, amassed over 70 wins, and placed five boys on the Academic All-State Team. It was my great pleasure and honor to work with these young men during their entire career at Hendrickson.”

Panther Diego Villafranco was the Panthers’ lone first-team selection. Jesus Mora Trujillo was a second-team pick. Honorable mention was given to Ryan Kennedy and Luis Maldanado.

The Lady Hawks battled the Lady Timberwolves through gusting winds and a tough, physical game that featured a combined six yellow cards. With the game tied at 1-1, Cedar Park’s Erin Deloney lofted a long, looping curveball of a shot into the gusting wind that came down just out of the reach of Hendrickson keeper Samantha Wooster to send the Lady Timberwolves to the state tournament.

Whitney Woodward scored Hendrickson’s lone goal, 30-yard rocket of a free kick in the 27th minute, while Meagan Prindle scored Cedar Park’s other tally.

Look for more in Wednesday’s print edition.

The Hendrickson girls soccer team crushed Pleasanton 5-0 in region semifinals. The Hawks play Cedar Park in region final on Saturday, April 14.

The Hawks broke a scoreless halftime tie early in the second half when Tyane Ramos capitalized on a free kick to score the first goal of the game. The tally was the result of a Hendrickson free kick taken by Mikaela Harvey. On the play she fed Ramos who got a shot off but had it blocked. The ball bounced out and was kicked back to Ramos who scored at the 34:22 mark. The goal was the first of the game for Ramos, but it would not be her last. Before the final horn blew, the Hawk would have the hat trick.

Hendrickson’s lead seemed safe as the next 24 minutes were played mostly in front of the Ranger goal. However, a penalty on the Hawks gave Smithson Valley’s Sioned Kirkpatrick a penalty kick at the 8:42 mark and she converted the chance, tying the game at 1-1.

The Hawks had a couple chances to win the game in regulation. Harvey put on a dazzling dribbling display, maneuvering past multiple Ranger defenders but had her shot from the five-yard line blocked. With 1:29 left in the game, Hendrickson was awarded a free kick from the corner of the goal box after the Ranger keeper was called for a foul for touching the ball outside of the box. The Hawks attempted to score on the play but the shot was knocked away, sending the game to overtime.

Hendrickson (24-1) was quick to score in the extra time. Harvey blew past three Ranger defenders and fired a shot at the Smithson Valley goal. The ball was tipped but it ended up in the net, putting the Hawks up 2-1 with 6:42 left in the first extra time period. Harvey got off another hard shot just two minutes later. This time the shot was stopped but Ramos picked up the rebound and hammered it home for the score putting Hendrickson up 3-1. Against what seemed to be an exhausted Ranger defense Ramos added one last Hawk score at the 6:26 mark of the second extra time period to seal the victory for Hendrickson.

The Hawks advance to the region semifinals on Friday where they will face Pleasanton at 2 p.m. at Corpus Christi’s Cabariss soccer field. Pleasanton advanced by defeating Juarez-Lincoln 1-0. If the Hawks can win that game they will play at 1 p.m. Saturday for the right to advance to the state tournament in Georgetown on April 20-21.

The Cougars (16-7-1) struggled all night to get shots while the Rangers peppered the Connally goal but had a hard time getting many shots past Cougar keeper Sierra Servantez. Vista Ridge did strike early, taking a 1-0 lead less than 10 minutes into the game, but then the Cougar defense locked them down, until the 24th minute of the second half when McKenzie Oliver took a cross from Raven Pierrotti and punched the ball past Servantez for the game winner.

“Vista Ridge is a talented team with young ladies who have been playing club ball since they were little,” Connally coach Jessica McCartney said. “My kids are as opposite as you can find. Through grit, determination, hard work, and a never say die attitude, they made a pretty good ball game out of last night’s playoff game. If you noticed, they don’t ever give up. You won’t find a group of kids who will fight harder, together as one.

Connally did not really have a good scoring chance until the 16th minute of the first half and the Cougars were quick to caplitalize. Fali Garuba beat two Ranger defenders then pushed a perfect pass to Emma Mele who booted the ball into the net to tie the contest at 1-1.

The Cougars did not get another shot on goal the rest of the half. They had a corner kick at the 6:37 mark, but could not turn it into a shot, then Garuba and Anabel Alvarado made a nice run at the Vista Ridge goal but the ball was kicked away by a Ranger defender before either Connally player could get a shot off.

Alvarado had a shot early in the second half from about 15 yards out but Vista Ridge’s goalkeeper Jessica Huebschman easily corralled it. Connally did not have another shot at the Ranger goal until the 2:44 mark of the second half when Garuba sent a cross to Mele who had the ball taken from her foot by Huebschman before she was able to convert. Connally had one more chance to score, getting a throw-in close to the Ranger goal with 53 seconds left in the game, but the pass was intercepted by Vista Ridge defender Aly Wade who booted the ball down the pitch to seal the win.

“Although we obviously ended up on the short end of the game, I couldn’t be more proud,” McCartney added. “The work that these young ladies have put in in order to grow a program is evident in the strides that they have made and the accomplishments of the season. This is only the beginning of great things to come for our program.”

While the Cougars lost, the other two remaining PISD teams in the playoffs advanced. The Hendrickson girls defeated Vandergrift 2-0 while the Hawk boys bested Cedar Park 3-2.

The two teams played each other to a standstill for the first 18 minutes of the game before the Hawk offense caught fire. In a span of less than two minutes, Hendrickson’s Dustin Trandai headed two balls into the net for scores and the Hawks never looked back.

Trandai’s first goal came after Andre Tayar sent a perfect lob pass over the Bastrop defense to Trandai who managed to get behind the ball and then punch it into the net at the 22:29 mark. Just one minute and 48 seconds later Trandai banged in a throw-in from Collin Lovett for the second score, putting Hendrickson up 2-0.

Nothing came easily for the Hawks in the ensuing 17 minutes. More of the game was played in front of the Hendrickson goal with Bastrop getting three solid scoring chances, but none of them were converted. The Hawks started to retake the momentum at the 7:33 mark when Brian Espinosa launched a shot that sailed over the Bear goal. Less than two minutes later Trandai sent a perfect pass to Gabe Williams who sped down the field, past the Bastrop defenders and put the ball in the goal to increase the Hawk lead to 3-0.

The Hawks had two more chances to score in the final two minutes of the first half, getting shots from Williams and Trandai but were unable to convert either chance, sending the Hawks in at the break with a 3-0 lead.

The Bears finally got on the board, scoring on a free kick at the 25:56 mark of the second half. Tayar answered the Bastrop score 11 minutes later when he drilled a shot from the 10-yard line into the goal. Farrauz Abezzadeh put the finishing touches on the Hawk scoring, taking a cross from Espinosa and scoring with an impressive boot into the goal.

The Hendrickson girls also moved on with a 2-0 win over Lake Travis. Both teams are back in action on Tuesday. The Hawk girls take on Smithson Valley at 7 p.m. at home. The Hawk boys face Alamo Heights at 7:30 p.m. at Hays High School.

The Cougars (16-7-1) struggled all night to get shots while the Rangers peppered the Connally goal but had a hard time getting many shots past Cougar keeper Sierra Servantez. Vista Ridge did strike early, taking a 1-0 lead less than 10 minutes into the game, but then the Cougar defense locked them down, until the 24th minute of the second half when McKenzie Oliver took a cross from Raven Pierrotti and punched the ball past Servantez for the game winner.

Connally did not really have a good scoring chance until the 16th minute of the first half and the Cougars were quick to caplitalize. Fali Garuba beat two Ranger defenders then pushed a perfect pass to Emma Mele who booted the ball into the net to tie the contest at 1-1.

The Cougars did not get another shot on goal the rest of the half. They had a corner kick at the 6:37 mark, but could not turn it into a shot, then Garuba and Anabel Alvarado made a nice run at the Vista Ridge goal but the ball was kicked away by a Ranger defender before either Connally player could get a shot off.

Alvarado had a shot early in the second half from about 15 yards out but Vista Ridge’s goalkeeper Jessica Huebschman easily corralled it. Connally did not have another shot at the Ranger goal until the 2:44 mark of the second half when Garuba sent a cross to Mele who had the ball taken from her foot by Huebschman before she was able to convert. Connally had one more chance to score, getting a throw-in close to the Ranger goal with 53 seconds left in the game, but the pass was intercepted by Vista Ridge defender Aly Wade who booted the ball down the pitch to seal the win.

While the Cougars lost, the other two remaining PISD teams in the playoffs advanced. The Hendrickson girls defeated Vandergrift 2-0 while the Hawk boys bested Cedar Park 3-2.

Gabe Williams did all the Hendrickson damage in the first half, scoring goals in the 12th minute and then again with just 1:26 left in the half to stake the Hawks to a 2-0 halftime lead.

Hendrickson controlled the flow of the game for most of the first 40 minutes as almost all the action took place in front of the Cedar Creek goal. Less than a minute into the game the Hawks had a nice run at the Eagle goal as Uriel Gallardo and Williams ended up with a two-on-one with the Cedar Creek goalie, but he came out and stopped the ball before either player could get a shot off.

The run set the tone for the next 16 minutes. Gallardo, Ryan Perez, Collin Lovett and Tyler Anker all had shots on the Eagle goal but could not capitalize. On the other hand, it took Cedar Creek 17 minutes before they got a shot on Hendrickson’s goal. Ricky Sanchez broke free but his shot was turned aside by Hawk keeper Jesus Guzman-Muniz. The Eagles would have just one more legitimate chance to score in the half, but failed to capitalize on that chance either.

Williams had three chances to score in the next 11 minutes but could not find the net on any of them. He finally broke through at the 12:16 mark, picking up a rebound of his own miss and booting it into the net to put Hendrickson up 1-0. He added his second score 11 minutes later when he took a cross and punched it into the net for the second score of the game.

Cedar Creek looked like a different team at the start of the second half, controlling the action and attacking the Hawk goal. The aggressiveness paid off in as Joel Oliveras scored on a long shot at the 38:05 mark, beating Guzman-Muniz into the upper right corner of the Hendrickson goal, cutting the Hawk lead to 2-1.

The Eagles kept the pressure on Hendrickson with four more chances to score in the next 20 minutes, but they failed to find the equalizer on any of them. The Hawks had their chances as well. Gallardo, Andre Tayar and Perez all had shots on the Cedar Creek goal but could not get them to go in. Lovett finally broke through with the goal to put the game away, scoring on an assist from Dionisio Garcia at the 7:30 mark of the game to seal the win.

Connally girls 3, Hays 2

The Cougars (16-6-1) opened the playoffs with a win over Hays. Emma Mele scored Connally’s first goal of the match with an assist from Itzel Juarez. Fali Garuba was the second to score with an assist from Emma Mele. Anabel Alvarado scored the final Connally goal. The Cougars advanced to face Vista Ridge on Tuesday.

The Hendrickson girls soccer team knocked off Lehman 7-0 to advance to Tuesday’s action where they faced Vandergrift. The only local team to lose was the Connally boys who fell to Lehman 3-0.