Photos courtesy of Cartershots
The Pampa Lady Harvesters (1-8, 0-3) fell to West Plains (4-0) on Tuesday and Borger (9-1) on Friday this week as District play continued. Despite the losses, there is plenty of District play left, time to right the ship and growing to be done.
“As a team, we have all openly acknowledged growth is our main priority right now,” Head Coach Brennan McGinty said. “Yes, we want to win. However, if we only determine success by wins and losses, we are really selling ourselves short.
“Each game is a chance to get better. If we focus on that, the wins will come naturally. I feel they’ve really bought into that aspect of the games. Despite being down against the top part of the district, we fought until the final horn went off each time.”
One of those players showing growth is Junior Valeria Garcia. Garcia is coming back from an injury and on Friday had an assist.
Valeria Garcia
“Val has been working her way back from injury, and finally got to play limited minutes in both of our games,” McGinty said. “Against Borger, she was able to get her first varsity points by assisting a goal. Val is a hard worker and hasn’t let her setbacks prevent her from competing to the best of her abilities.”
Aliyah Acosta
Along with Garcia’s assist, Freshman Chole’Ezmae scored a goal in the Borger loss and Junior Aliyah Acosta had 45 saves between both contests.
The Lady Harvesters will have a two-game homestand against Hereford and Perryton Tuesday and Friday, respectively.
“Hereford and Perryton are in the same boat we are,” McGinty said. “Neither has won a match this season. Hereford has scored quite a few goals, but hasn’t been able to find stops on the defensive side of things.
Chloe'Ezmae Larrazolo
“Perryton is kind of the opposite. They haven’t scored much but a lot of their losses are by 1-2 goals. Both teams have one standout player everything runs through. We have to focus on stopping them to give ourselves a chance.”
Prior to the Tuesday game, the Lady Harvesters will honor teachers who have made an impact in their lives during Teacher Appreciation Night. Gametime Tuesday is at 5 p.m.
“Recognizing our teachers is actually something the girls really wanted to do,” McGinty said. “Our team GPA at semester was just above a 3.8. That’s in large part to having teachers who have bought into them. They felt it was right to recognize them, and from reading some of the write ups the girls have made, it’s clear our teachers are impacting them in more ways than just subject matter.”