Cy Falls haunted by '09's near miss
By TODD HVEEM
CHRONICLE CORRESPONDENT
A year ago, the Cy Falls Golden Eagles came up one goal short of advancing to the Region II-5A soccer tournament.
This year, they want to make sure that same devastating fate doesn't happen again.
When we lost to The Woodlands (1-0) in the regional quarterfinals, it really took a lot out of our kids,'' said Cy Falls head coach Kevin Napier. We were so close.
We had beaten Klein in the second round (of the playoffs),'' he added. It was the first time Klein had lost that early since 1986. That gave us a lot of confidence. But we just didn't get it done against The Woodlands.''
The Golden Eagles started the 2010 season 5-0, including a 3-2 victory over Lee in the finals of the Houston ISD tournament.
We felt pretty good about that,'' Napier said. Lee has a very good team.''
The other wins have come over Dekaney (8-0), Chavez (1-0), Madison (5-0) and Furr (8-0).
We have 12-13 guys back from last year's team, so we have a lot of experience,'' Napier said. Included in those 12-13 guys is our goalie, Kevin Suarez. I would put him there against any goalie in the area.''
Brian Vasquez, who was in California a year ago, also returns to the team for his senior year, as do returning seniors Ricky Mupier and Josh Alcedo.
Those four guys have all been doing a great job,'' Napier said. We are going to be counting on them a lot for their play and leadership this season.''
Juniors Mike Diaz and Langham Creek transfer Christian Valdez also have been controlling the midfield.
We are pretty young in the backline, but we are very talented,'' Napier said.
Napier said the District 15-5A race, which started on Friday, should be wide open.
You have the usual good teams like Langham Creek, Cy Woods and Cy Ridge (who all made the playoffs last year),'' he said. They will be back in the hunt. But Cy Springs and Cy-Fair also will be in the mix. And I think Jersey Village has a couple kids back who didn't play with them last year. It should be interesting.''
The 10-team league has been divided into two zones. The five teams in each zone will play each other twice and the teams in the other zone once.
Cy Falls is in a zone with Cy Woods, Cy Ridge, Cy Lakes and Cy Ranch.
I think the draw turned our pretty well,'' Napier said. It is pretty balanced. Obviously, we have three returning playoff teams. But we have the new guys as well. Langham Creek is in a zone with teams who were on the verge of making the playoffs last year. Whoever makes the playoffs will have to take care of the games in their zone.''
The top four teams, regardless of zone, will advance to the playoffs. In soccer, teams are awarded three points for a win and one point for a tie.
We finished fourth last year and advanced to the regional quarterfinals,'' Napier said.
The whole key in our district is just getting in. Our kids know what they are capable of. We want to go deeper (in the playoffs) than we did last year.''
