Grapevine finding goals to shoot for near season’s end

By John English

Special to the Courier

The Grapevine boys soccer team lost a close one to R. L. Turner on Friday, and while coach Heath Bullard said the postseason is a long shot for the Mustangs at this point, there is still something to play for the rest of the way.

Grapevine has spring break this coming week and will square off with Trinity next Tuesday night. Bullard said he expects a tough and hard-fought game from the Trojans.

“It's always a tough game with Trinity,” Bullard said. “The last time we played them, we lost to them 2-1 on an own goal and and a penalty kick. Last year, we had very close games with them also.

“The games with Trinity are always tight, and we don't expect anything different this time around.”

The Mustangs will play Trinity at 5:30 p.m. on March 19 at Trinity High School.

Grapevine lost to R.L. Turner on Friday night by a score of 1-0, a far cry from the two teams first encounter when the Mustangs lost 4-1 and were really out played.

Bullard said is was a much different story this time around.

“We played very, very well, but we missed three solid opportunities in the first half and about three to five opportunities in the second half,” Bullard said. “Their keeper made a great save on one, but I was trying to look at the video, because I think they scored on an own goal.”

Bullard said that the close game with R.L. Turner may have boosted the teams' confidence, but it is probably a little bit too late for this season.

“Honestly, that game probably put us out of any shot at the playoffs,” Bullard said. “We are 5-6-4 in either tied or one goal games, and it just seems to be that one little thing where we make a mistake or we can't capitalize when we need to.”

Bullard said there are a couple of objectives at this point for his team to finish out the season strong.

“Right now, you're playing for pride, and if you want to stay on the field, you're going to play hard,” Bullard said. “If you don't, your not going to be out there. Some of these youngsters may get more of an opportunity to play than they have before, and we'll see if we can get them some playing experience before next year.”

Colleyville Heritage will face a very difficult final slate of games if it wants to earn a playoff berth. It needs to win at least two against the top three teams in the district entering this week to have a good chance.

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