Play rough, team and family. Those words are a part of a pre-game chant the Lady Rattlers do before each match. This is a way for them to stay motivated and to keep the team close. Head coach Jason Carnley explained that they have to play tough, but in the right way.
“I mean, we want to come out here and compete,” Carnley said. “We don’t want to back down, but we’re going to do it in the most classic way possible.”
The Lady Rattlers came out and played hard against the Austin Bowie Bulldogs on Saturday morning, but they were taken down, 4-0, inside San Marcos Toyota Rattler Stadium. They were coming off a win where they defeated the Del Valle Cardinals, 1-0, on Thursday.
Carnley said that despite the outcome of the game, he’s proud of his team for coming out and playing solid against a tough opponent.
“We knew this was gonna be a tough match,” Carnley said. “We came out here and battled. I really, really am proud of how hard we worked. The score doesn’t show that, but we did a lot of good things, our touches were better, our passing was better, our energy was better. We just went up against a great team and the outcome wasn’t what we wanted, but I’m super proud of how we worked today.”
On a windy morning, both teams started out the game playing strong. The Bulldogs (6-6-3, 3-3-3 district) made a shot attempt within 10 minutes of the game starting, but the ball went out of bounds. They had multiple attempts throughout the first 30 minutes, but Lady Rattler sophomore goalkeeper Caitlin Tims was able to make the saves.
It wasn’t until toward the end of the first half when Bowie made its first goal of the game off a deflection on a corner kick. Less than two minutes later, with only seven minutes remaining until halftime, the Bulldogs made another goal on a corner kick. They were up, 2-0, heading into the break.
After halftime, Bowie came out and had a shot attempt six minutes into the half, but again, Tims came up with the save. Although, the Bulldogs immediately made up for their missed goal and scored again a minute later, increasing their lead, 3-0.
The Lady Rattlers (6-7, 3-7 district) tried firing back with a shot attempt from senior Izabella Olivo, but the ball went wide to the right of the goal. They were able hold off the Bulldogs until the final 10 minutes of the game, where they made their fourth goal.
Carnley has said previously that their communication needs to improve. That was another struggle in this game that he wishes his team would’ve executed better.
“I think we should’ve looked up more,” Carnley said. “You know, talking to each other, communication is a big word. We did talk on the field, we did, but we didn’t communicate the words like ‘man on’ or ‘you have time’ instead of screaming for a name.”
The Lady Rattlers faced the Austin Bowie Bulldogs once again on Monday at 6:30 p.m. at Burger Annex Field. Carnley hoped that his team will come out and have a better game.
“Come Monday, we get some rest this weekend, we play Bowie again. We kind of know what they’re about. It’s gonna be a better game for us.”
