Girls Varsity Soccer participated in the “I-10 Shootout”, a non-profit tournament held back on Jan. 11-13, hoping to raise funds for college scholarships.

They brought back much more.

The tournament contained a total of 56 varsity girls soccer teams and was split up into 7 different brackets consisting of 8 teams, each hoping to bring home their bracket’s trophy, and the Lady Cougars didn’t disappoint.

Tomball was selected to play in the Maverick Bracket and faced tough opponent Morton Ranch in the first round.

It was a hard fought game on both sides but Tomball came out on top 3-1 due to a stellar performance by Courtney Heckt who had 3 goals (aka: “hat trick” in soccer terminology).

The second game of the tournament for the Cougars was a matchup against the FB Austin Bulldogs for a chance to play in the Bracket Championship against the Nederland Panthers. In a mostly defensive game, Tomball bested the Bulldogs 1-0 off a goal by starting outside middle Hannah Sprague.

“It was interesting competition and the whole team really had to adjust with the weather because it was extremely windy that weekend,” Sprague said. “Which ultimately gave me the extra boost for my goal.”

Finally the big game, and what a game it was.

Nederland and Tomball went back and forth throughout the game until ultimately heading into an overtime shootout tied 3-3. Tomball was able to capitalize on a missed opportunity by the Panthers and came out with an emotion filled win.

In addition to winning their bracket, freshman forward Heckt and sophomore goalie Prescilla Caruso were named to the All-Tournament Team.

“Obviously I’m extremely happy for not only me but for all my teammates,” Caruso said. “To go out and be able to get win after win shows the perseverance our team has.”

Last Friday the girls added another win to their streak after traveling over an hour away to Bryan. In the first half the girls scored twice and then again in the second half making the final score 3-0.

Their next game will also be away, this time heading to Willis. 

“We’re probably going to beat them,” senior Elaine Griffin said. “We’ve been practicing hard all week for this this game so yea we’ll probably do well.”