Photos courtesy of Cartershots
The Pampa Lady Harvesters (3-9-1, 3-4-1) hosted Canyon on Monday after moving their game to avoid playing in Tuesday’s windy weather.
The Lady Harvesters fell behind 2-0 and trailed at half, but the Lady Harvesters rallied and came from behind to win after two goals from Senior Zhalie Solis and Junior Aliyah Acosta.
Zhalie Solis
The win reflects the continued change in attitude by these Lady Harvesters. In years past, it may have been easy to fall behind 2-0 to Canyon and get discouraged. But, not with this squad.
“Really, the ‘here we go again’ feeling isn’t something I fear anymore,” Head Coach Brennen McGinty said. “The girls were confident at halftime. We didn’t feel as if we were losing the game because of anything they were doing. We hurt ourselves and knew we could easily flip the momentum.”
McGinty attributes the wind and conditioning to the second-half momentum.
“We intentionally gave Canyon the wind to start the game,” McGinty said. “I have always preferred to play that way if we know the wind will persist. It allows us to be more aggressive in the second half and take advantage of tired defenders.
“We believe our conditioning is on a high level and we love making games a foot race. That’s exactly what happened after the break. We knew we needed three goals, so we took advantage of the wind to make it happen.”
Annette Luna
The Lady Harvesters have two Annettes on their team. Junior Annette Luna had three assists in yesterdays win, while Sophomore Annette Garcia plays a rotational role with other midfielders.
“Annette Luna controls the midfield for us,” McGinty said. “She has speed and a strong leg. No matter how she wins the ball, shes able to cross it or play it up to get a counter attack going. Her leadership can never be overstated.
“Annette Garcia plays a key role, rotating with our midfielders. She has a strong leg and is going to play an impactful role for us the more we play. She’s one of the few girls who is dedicated to learning to shoot with her non-dominant foot. Her expectations are high, and she will only continue to improve.”
Annette Garcia
The Lady Harvesters return to action on Friday when they travel to Southwest Amarillo to take on West Plains. Since they played on Monday, the Lady Harvesters not only get a little bit of extra prep time in, but also shake off the flu bug.
“The biggest thing it provides us is an extra day of rest and we can get a little bit of extra work,” McGinty said. “We have two to three girls out with flu right now, so getting them back for West Plains should help us out in that regard.