Jay Neal
Jacksonville Daily Progress
JACKSONVILLE —
It’s official: The Jacksonville Maidens will enter the state Class 4A soccer playoffs as the District 35-4A’s third place team — Nacogdoches won the league crown with Palestine and Jacksonville both finishing second.
After some questions regarding the district’s tie breakers came up earlier in the week, the league’s coaches conducted a district meeting in Nacogdoches Wednesday morning to sort everything out as well as to conduct other business, and as a result, Palestine edged past the Maidens by a single point to take second place.
The ruling Wednesday confirms Jacksonville head coach Kiff Wiemers’ originally understanding of the tie breakers.
Had the Maidens (9-8-6) defeated Diboll by a three-point margin last Friday in their final district match, the Maidens would have earned second place — Jacksonville won the match, 3-2.
“There was some confusion in the district minutes and we lost out on second by one point,” Weimers said Wednesday in a telephone interview. “I think the right choice was made today and I in no way feel we (Jacksonville) were cheated or anything like that.
“We had our chances on the field early in the season to (earn second place) and we didn’t get it done.”
After receiving a bye in bi-district, Jacksonville now moves on to face Waco Midway, ranked No. 5 in the state, at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at Ennis High School. The Pantherettes eliminated the Maidens, 5-0, in the 2009 state playoffs.
Wiemers believes his team is much improved this year and hopes for a better result against the 33-4A champions.
“We have been in every match this year and we have contended for the district championship this season, which is something we didn’t do last year,” he said. “We will start at 2 p.m. (Wednesday afternoon) to do everything we can to play our absolute best against Midway.”
The Maidens have just one senior, midfielder, Analorena Rodriquez, on the roster and are configured around primarily sophomores and freshmen.
Jacksonville’s main weapons on offense are Lauren Eyre (right forward), Amber Brannan (left forward) and Alex Barrientos (center forward).
Eyre has been hot of late, scoring three goals in her team’s last outing while Barrientos has the ability to launch a lot of shots from straight away.
Brannan is always a threat and has a knack for being in the right place at the right time.
Katelyn Arrington is the key defender for Jacksonville while Kali Finch, an early-season call-up from the junior varsity team, is the team’s starting goalkeeper.
