A&M Consolidated beats the elements, Pflugerville Hendrickson in 5A-I regional semifinals
CEDAR CREEK - The A&M Consolidated girls soccer team battled strong winds and an always tough Pflugerville Hendrickson squad but came out on top against both with a 1-0 victory on Friday night in the Class 5A Division I regional semifinals at Bastrop Memorial Stadium.
The raging wind reached 19 mph during the final few minutes of the game.
"It's the windiest game [we've been apart of] in a big-game scenario," A&M Consolidated head coach Caleb Blakley said. "We've had tournament games that are worse in January but having a quality opponent like Hendrickson and then 15-17 mph wind is not ideal."
Blakley says it's ironic but that this year's team has played better against the wind all season.
He felt they did that again even though the only goal came in the first half when they were playing with the wind. His reasoning was the Lady Tigers had just as many chances to score again in the second half as they did in the first.
And while a second goal would have calmed the fans' nerves, Consol's defense was more than up to the task of holding a one-goal lead. Blakley said outside backs Liz Garrett and Lanie Junek did an "amazing job" of closing on Hendrickson's wingers and tracking back.
The few shots Hendrickson did have were corralled by goalkeeper Mia Loya. Loya's biggest save came with 14 minutes, 35 seconds left in the second half. She had to jump and fully extend to punch a Hendrickson attempt over the net.
"It was pretty tough I gotta say," Loya said of dealing with the weather. "We've worked with this wind before in different games and we've just learned different strategies with my distribution and how the best way to get it out of our half would be in a scenario with this wind. And then whenever I know shots are coming on or there's corner kicks, I have to anticipate the wind and how the ball's going to carry with that wind."
Her second half save was reminiscent of how Consol scored in the first half. Jaselynn Coots rocketed a shot that hit the crossbar so hard, it bounced down, back up and bounced down again before Hendrickson's keeper grabbed it.
After a few seconds, the referee signaled it was a goal and that it crossed the line.
"In preseason I hit one just like that against [Prosper] Walnut Grove," Coots said. "It was the same exact thing, but they didn't count it."
Her goal came with 29:47 left in the first half.
"Oh, it was so exciting," Coots said. "I knew that was going to get us hyped and shut the other team down, so I knew that was really great for us."
Coots certainly knows about Hendrickson as do her fellow seniors and really everyone besides the freshmen on the team.
This year's matchup with the Lady Hawks was the fifth straight in the playoffs between the two with all five coming in the third round.
Hendrickson (19-5) and Consol (18-3-3) have had a knack for close matchups. In 2022, Hendrickson won 7-6 in a penalty shootout, while the Lady Tigers returned the favor in 2023 with a 6-5 shootout win.
In 2024, Hendrickson won 1-0, but last season en route to the state title, Consol won 3-1.
Coots joked she's glad this will be the last time the seniors face the Lady Hawks.
"Yes," said Coots laughing when asked if she was kind of glad to end this series, since the seniors won't have to face them again. "They're definitely scary but it's always a fun one. We like to joke about the third-round curse, so we broke it for the second year in a row."
The Lady Tigers will look to keep defending their state championship next week. Consol will face Kingwood Park in the regional finals at a date, time and location to be determined.
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This story was originally published March 29, 2026 at 9:40 AM.