Lions’ soccer team heats up during non-district play

By David Cich
Special to the Post-Register

The Lions boys varsity soccer team traveled to Georgetown on Jan. 4-6 to compete in the Governor’s Cup Tournament against teams from throughout Texas.
The Lions finished undefeated with two wins and one draw. The opening game on Jan. 4 was against the hometown Georgetown Eagles. Neither team was able to score for a 0-0 draw. The Lions goaltender was senior Jovany Gutierrez, who earned his first shutout of the season.
The Lockhart Lions proved to be the “King of the Lions” for the Governor’s Cup with victories over the Brownwood Lions and Leander Lions. On Jan. 5, the Lions scored three goals in the first half to lead Brownwood 3-1.
The Lions defense shut down the Brownwood offense in the 2nd half, and the Lions offense scored three more goals for a final score of 6-1. Senior Julian Ramirez scored three goals for a hat trick, and the other three goals were scored by senior Junior Merida, junior Jonathan Martinez, and sophomore Charles Francis.
On Jan. 6, the Lions earned a hard fought 1-0 victory over Leander .
The defense made several plays to stop Leander’s offense, and Gutierrez made several key saves to earn his second shutout of the tournament.
The winning goal was scored midway through the first half on a great individual effort by senior Edder Guerrero to elude several Leander defenders before his hard shot beat the Leander goaltender.
Guerrero also shared goaltending duties with Gutierrez for the last 17 minutes of the game to preserve the shutout.
“It is always good to start with the right foot into the season,” said Head Coach David Ramos, “And these games are a good preparation for the start of our district games on Jan. 30.”
On Jan. 19-20, the Lions varsity team will be competing in the Waller Classic Boys Showcase tournament, the team’s final tune up for the beginning of the district season. The Lions will be competing against Kipp Houston, Terry and Cy Fair high schools. Games will be scheduled at the Waller ISD Stadium and the Prairie View A&M University soccer stadium.
The Lions open up their district season at home against Seguin High School on Tuesday, Jan. 30.  For the district season, JV games will begin at 5 p.m., and Varsity games will begin at 6:45 p.m.
District 26-5A includes Lockhart, Alamo Heights, Boerne Champion, Dripping Springs, Kerrville Tivy, Marble Falls, Medina Valley and Seguin.