April 6, 2023
As Pres Holcomb makes the final preparations for the Region III-6A Tournament, which is set to begin Friday afternoon, the veteran coach knows he has a veteran team.
Kingwood (20-5) has an impressive 15 seniors on its roster, which will try to wheel their way through Stratford on Friday and either Ridge Point or Clear Lake on Saturday at Deer Park ISD’s Abshier Stadium to reach the program’s first UIL State Tournament since 2004.
“It’s good to be back to the Regional Tournament,” Holcomb, who eclipsed win No. 250 of his career earlier this season, said. “There’s a lot of good teams and it’s a fun atmosphere to get to hopefully play two days in a row. You are playing the best teams in the Houston area and to be one of the last standing is cool for the kids and obviously myself.”
With so many seniors and pieces to the puzzle, it took a little time early on in the 2023 season to get them all in the right place. Adjustments to starting lineups, where players were positioned and tactically, the Lady Mustangs have adjusted and improved since January.
In a tournament in Georgetown in January, the Lady Mustangs took their lumps early - three-straight losses by a combined 13 goals. But since that weekend, Kingwood has only surrendered six total goals the rest of the way and none in the playoffs.
This season, Kingwood has posted a goal differential of +76, outscoring opponents 96 to 20 in 25 matches.
“Our defense has been outstanding,” Holcomb said.
In making the adjustments needed and growing from the version of the team that was on the field in January compared to the one now in April, Holcomb had to lean on senior leadership. In a group of 15 seniors, outside of tradition, he went with four senior captains for this season – Haven Noe, Madelynn Murphy, Julia Abreu and Kira Stevens.
“They’ve done a great job of leading the program and the team,” Holcomb said of the captains. “They’ve done a great job of holding things together and motivating the group.”
In District 21-6A play is where Holcomb started feeling that this could be a special season. That sense came after he watched his team lose a district contest 3-1 to West Brook on February 7, and then less than a month later, flipped the score and won the rematch 3-1.
Kingwood is now two wins away from the UIL State Tournament after defeating Pasadena (8-0), Clear Creek (1-0) and Atascocita (1-0) in the playoffs. But all Holcomb and company are worried about at the moment is a Region III-6A Semifinal showdown with Stratford on Friday.
“We can say we are two games away but we are one game away from being done,” Holcomb said. “We have a game on Friday, we’re preparing for them. We’ve seen some game film and know a little bit about how they play and I’m sure they’ve seen us. So, just attack that game and if we win we regroup and attack the one on Saturday.”
Outside of the defense and the goal-scoring ability of his squad, the biggest takeaway for the eighth-year Kingwood coach about his group is how they play together. They are a unified group.
He saw that through one of their team goals in district play each season. One of Holcomb’s goals, outside of winning the District Championship, is that every player on the team scores at least one goal in district play. This year, each player almost scored two goals apiece.
“It’s fun for them to watch them get excited for someone else to score and someone else to have some success,” Holcomb said.
Players to watch this weekend include Mollie Spradley, who leads the team with 14 goals, Mackenzie Black with 13 goals and Melanie Oldner with 10 goals.
Kingwood is set to face Stratford on Friday at 1:30 p.m. at Abshier Stadium in the Region III-6A Semifinal.