Yoe soccer closes out 2017

This past week, both the Lady Yoe and Yoemen soccer programs played their final two matches of the year.  Cameron hosted Gonzales on Friday and Taylor on Tuesday in the two final games in 26-4A district action. 

Yoemen

On Friday, the Yoemen battled every moment of the game, but district champ Gonzales flexed their muscles down stretch in a 13-0 loss. 

“They are going to be our district champion and I have a feeling they are going to be playing for a while,” said Yoemen head coach Kevin Webb.  “They have about 9 or 10 seniors that have stuck together over four years, and now they are reaping the benefits of that.  That is something I want our program to have.  With our large freshmen class it is something to talk about and shoot for.”

Monday was the final game for three Yoe seniors in a 4-0 loss to Taylor.  “They are three totally different types of kids,” said Webb. 

“The first one is Benny Paredes.  He is the only four-year senior that I have.  He scored in his very first game and we beat Connally 1-0.  That is the one thing I remember about him.  He loves the game and I’m sure he is going to continue to play somehow. 

Javi Torres is our leader.  He is my other coach on the field.  He has just been playing for two years, but he brings that wealth of leadership from the football program to the soccer field and he has been a great blessing to have out there.

“Noah Kostroun is the same way.  He is another football player that came in last year and said that he wanted to play soccer.  It’s been really good to see him develop.  Now that he is moving on to play college football I’ll always joke with him that had it not been for soccer, Incarnate Word would have never came calling.”

Lady Yoe

In the first match with Gonzales, Cameron lost a 1-0 heartbreaker.  In the second go around we got another competitive match in a 3-0 loss. The score was 1-0 until the midpoint of the second half when the Lady Apaches created extra distance with two quick goals.

“The girls played as hard as they could and they brought total effort,” said Lady Yoe head coach Laura Dickson.  “We have been going through boot camp talking about total effort, and I could not have asked for more than they did tonight.  I still have some girls struggling with some injuries and sickness, so switching them in and out lost some of the momentum from the first half.  Again, they’ve played as hard as they could and I could not be more proud of them.”

Cameron fell 3-0 to Taylor to close the season on Monday to finish 2-12 in district play.  Though there were no playoffs for Cameron in 2017, the program is headed in the right direction with steady improvement from year to year.  

“The last couple of years we have made records for the school,” said Dickson  This year we got two district wins.  Each year we have been improving and I saw a huge improvement this year.”

In addition to a young varsity roster, the JV program finished second in the district standings.  “I am very thankful that I had a JV this year,” said Dickson.  “They ended up placing second in district and that will be a huge step forward for us and part of our success coming up.  I see us doing really well next year.”

Like the Yoemen, the ladies are losing three seniors from this year’s roster.

“We are going to miss the positions that they played and the leadership they showed out on the field,” said Dickson.  “None of them are real vocals leaders but they led in how they worked.  Savannah, Cynthia and Adriana are my three seniors.  You are always going to miss the seniors that you have.  I am going to miss having them around.  They gave me everything they had while on the field.”