Regional tournaments roundup: Colleyville Heritage advances to state, more from area
The UIL soccer regional semifinals are here. See which Fort Worth-area high school soccer teams are advancing to the regional finals.
Colleyville Heritage girls advance to state
Lady Panther girls soccer’s dominant run continued on Saturday in the regional finals.
Colleyville Heritage defeated Wichita Falls Rider 3-0 to advance to the state tournament. Last season, Heritage lost in the area round following a state semifinal appearance in 2022; Now, Heritage is back to the grandest stage in Texas soccer.
The Lady Panthers last won a state championship in the 1999 season. They will play in the state semifinals on Thursday in Georgetown, Texas.
Colleyville Heritage (23-0-2) has yet to suffer a loss. The Lady Panthers have scored 123 goals while opponents have scored 16. Following the regional tournaments, Colleyville Heritage is the only school from the greater Fort Worth-area to make the state soccer tournament.
Three players scored goals in the regional final: Olivia Belcher, Allie Love and Ashlyn Bringedahl.
Diamond Hill-Jarvis loses star player to injury, falls to Riverside
A heartbreaking injury for Diamond Hill-Jarvis (20-6) was too much to overcome, and the Eagles’ season ended on Friday at NISD Stadium following a 3-2 loss to El Paso Riverside.
In the second half, Diamond Hill-Jarvis junior Alejandro Ibarra scored a goal to tie the game at 1-1 but collapsed at the net. He was tended to by athletic trainers for 20 minutes until an ambulance arrived.
Riverside (21-5-2) played a better match in the second half with Ibarra not able to return, and the Eagles failed to overcome a string of uncontrollable events. The emotional toll from Ibarra’s injury was heavy.
“I’m proud of my guys,” Diamond Hill-Jarvis head coach Kyle Reopelle said. “They kept going. …. I’m proud of how they responded.”
When Ibarra was down on the pitch, the Diamond Hill-Jarvis’ team put their arms around each other as they dealt with an emotional, challenging moment.
“We were playing for him (Ibarra) in the second half,” Reopelle said. “We thank God that he is alright. He was talking and able to get up and into the cart. That was scary seeing one of our teammates – one of the members of our family go down like that.”
Following the injury stoppage, Edgar Resendiz fired a successful shot to the right side to take a brief lead. Riverside, in less than a minute, secured the equalizer goal.
“They fought. They battled,” Reopelle said of his team. “They responded well right after the hydration break. We just weren’t able to see it through. It wasn’t the cleanest game we’ve ever played. … It wasn’t easy playing without Alex (Ibarra), who is the engine and motor of our team.”
Riverside scored the go ahead goal with just over 10 minutes left in regulation, and it ended up being the game winner.
“Credit to them,” Reopelle said of Riverside. “They have some great players. They kept fighting through. They do a great job of using their body.”
The DHJ Eagles have won district championships in four consecutive seasons, becoming a Fort Worth-area soccer powerhouse. In 2021, they made it all the way to the Class 4A State Championship.
In 2023, DHJ graduated 14 seniors and Ibarra was the only returning starter. The Eagles still found a way to succeed, making the regional tournament in back-to-back seasons for the first time in program history in what many believed to be a rebuilding year.
“I love these seniors. They’ve stepped up huge,” Reopelle said. “But we only have four of them. So, the other 19 guys are back. So, I’m excited. Starting next week, we’ll be preparing to make sure we get back here next year.”
San Elizario thumps River Oaks Castleberry
River Oaks Castleberry’s playoff run ended in the regional semifinals on Friday at Northwest ISD Stadium.
Castleberry (26-4) was defeated by San Elizario 3-0 in a game where quality scoring chances were rare. San Elizario forward Eduardo Marquez was the man of the match, scoring all three of his team’s goals.
“San Elizario is perennial powerhouse,” Castleberry head coach Paul Smith said. “We knew that going into the game -- they were going to be a tough team. They got the best of us today.”
His most impressive was from the baseline. Marquez didn’t have an angle but still found a way to put the ball in the net despite Diamond Hill-Jarvis’ goalkeeper blocking nearly the entire shooting lane.
San Elizario’s (22-3) defense was dominant throughout, keeping the Lions away from the goal. Castleberry had a few decent chances toward the end, but none of the shots were converted.
Smith said the team competed well the entire season. Castleberry improved on an area round appearance in the 2023 season.
“We started off hot,” Smith said. “We had a couple of keys guys get hurt. We adjusted well and continued to compete. For us to be the three seed in our district and to be the last team standing from the district I think speaks volumes to the depth and talent that we have.”
Colleyville Heritage girls soccer bests Amarillo
Colleyville Heritage girls soccer continued its dominance in the regional semifinals on Friday.
The Lady Panthers secured a strong 6-1 victory over Amarillo to advance to the regional finals, where they’ll face Wichita Falls Rider (23-1-4) at Memorial Stadium in Wichita Falls, Texas. The winner will advance to the state championship tournament.
Colleyville Heritage (22-0-2) was led by Addison Shimmick, who tallied a hat trick. Allie Love, a Rice soccer commit, was also a force. She spread the love with two assists and also scored a goal.
Ashlyn Bringedahl and Kyra Dolgin also scored while Olivia Belcher notched two assists.
No. 1 Southlake Carroll girls lose in shootout to Prosper
The Southlake Carroll girls soccer team should start a reptile farm at McKinney ISD Stadium. The Dragons have been snake bit the past two games at the facility ending undefeated seasons each time.
Prosper goalkeeper Maggie Manning guess correctly and dove right to stop Carroll’s seventh penalty kick attempt in the shootout to allow the Eagles to advance 5-4 in PKs after a 1-1 tie in a Class 6A Region I semifinal on Friday.
Prosper (23-2-2), No. 6 in the state in 6A according to the Texas Girls Coaches Association, will meet Flower Mound Marcus (17-6-4), a 1-0 winner over Wolfforth Frenship, in the Region I final at 10 a.m. on Saturday. The winner will advance to the state tournament in Georgetown next week.
Carroll (24-1-1) lost 1-0 on an own goal in the regional final a year ago to Marcus and the top-ranked Dragons were stunned early this time when the Eagles scored in the sixth minute.
A turnover by Carroll deep in its own in was gathered in by Prosper’s Brooklyn Miller who dribbled left then beat Dragons’ keeper Olivia Geller, a TCU commit, from 15 yards out.
Carroll, however, tied the game three minutes later when Hannah Jordan blasted a shot from 32 yards out that found the top shelf in the right side.
The Dragons applied the majority of the pressure the rest of regulation and through two 10-minute overtime periods, but not by much. Both teams had chances with each goal keeper coming up big to keep the game knotted 1-1.
Geller made a couple of great saves on blasts by Olivia Hess from 15 yards out in the 29th minute and by Miller from 20 yards out on the left side in the 30th minute.
Manning, who’s headed to the University of Houston in the fall, made a tremendous kick save on a shot by Carroll’s Olivia Holcombe inside the keepers box in the 50th minute.
Miller was fouled, hard, just outside the penalty box in the 62nd minute resulting in a red card on the Dragons. Carroll had to play the rest of the game down a player.
“I thought it was a back and forth match for the most part, but obviously the red card changed the way we had to play a little bit,” said Carroll coach Matt Colvin. “But I thought our girls battled hard under that circumstance.”
Carroll narrowly missed winning it in the 94th minute in the second overtime period when Jordan fired a shot from 32 yards out. But Manning was able to just get a piece of it to punch it over the top of the crossbar.
In the shootout, Geller stopped two of the first three attempts by Prosper to take a 2-1 lead in penalty kicks. But Carroll’s following shot was stopped by Manning and its next was wide right leaving the door open for Prosper’s Isabella Fregoso to tie the shootout at 2-2.
Carroll looked to have the advantage in the seventh round of the shootout when Geller stopped a shot by Prosper’s Reagan Roberts, but Geller was ruled to have left the line too early and Roberts’ retry was true to put the Eagles up 5-4.
Manning didn’t let the Dragons’ next attempt pass and the senior was dog piled on the field by her jubilant teammates.
“Prosper is a really good side and they’re going to represent our region well in the final tomorrow,” said Colvin. “A lot of the success we had this year was due to our seniors. They came together early as a group and set some good goals and kept our standard high and held people accountable.
“Not anybody here has anything to hang their heads down about. They put forth everything they had today.”
