The Texas High School Lady Tigers suffered a painful loss on Friday, April 3. In the second round of playoffs the Lady Tigers lost 1-5 against the Lake Ridge Eagles from Mansfield, Texas.

The game started off with a one-on-one goal by sophomore Rachael Shewmaker in the eighth minute of the game.

“I felt a lot of emotion,” Shewmaker said. “It gave the rest of the team confidence. After I shot and made that goal I could see everyone’s faces light up.”

From there the game went downhill. 7 minutes later, the Lake Ridge forward scored in collision with junior goalkeeper Leah Crenshaw. At first, the Lady Tigers were unfazed.

“I felt that we were going to be okay,” senior wing Faith Rhone said. “That has happened before and we have come back from it.”

Just 10 minutes later the Eagles scored a second goal, bringing the score up to 2-1. No other goals were scored in the 14 minutes before halftime.

Halftime was quiet. The team knew that without the win, they wouldn’t move on to the next round of playoffs.

“It was really tense, and everybody was quiet,” freshman defender Emma Wolf said. “It was all very emotional because we knew it could be our last game if we didn’t take the win.”

The second half of the game was even worse for the Lady Tigers. After only a minute and a half of play, the Lake Ridge Eagles scored again. The fourth and fifth goals were scored 18 and 35 minutes into the half, respectively.

Continuing to play hard while trailing by so much is very difficult, but the Lady Tigers kept their heads up and did all that they could until the buzzer signaled the end of the game.

Many tears were shed as the Lady Tigers came to realize that their season was coming to an end.

“I was upset. I was sad because the season was over, and I wasn’t ready for that.” sophomore Mary Miller said. “I just wanted it all to keep going.”

The loss was especially hard for the seniors of the team, many of whom do not plan on playing in college.

“It was my last game,” senior captain Savannah Stussy said, “so towards the end of the game when the buzzer went off it really suck in that I’ll never get to play again. It was really sad.”

Even players who are not graduating keenly feel the upcoming loss of the seniors.

“A lot of emotions with the season ending and our seniors leaving, and Reagan leaving,” freshman Jillian Ross said. “It just hit us all at once.”

This game concluded the Lady Tigers with an impressive record of 20 wins with only 4 losses and one tie.

“I think this year was such a great year,” senior captain Kelsi Allan said. “I’m so proud of what we’ve accomplished. I know that there is nothing I would have changed about this year and I wouldn’t ever trade it for anything different.”