Lady Rangers Win 2nd Straight District Title

The Vista Ridge Lady Rangers won their 2nd straight district 25-4A championship on Saturday by beating the Lake Travis Lady Cavaliers 2-0. This year’s match-up renewed a rivalry between the 2 of the best teams in central Texas. Each easily won their respective district brackets. Both are perennial playoff contenders. And the Lady Mavs entered the 2008 season after finishing 3rd in the state championships last year. And as the game started, it was clear that this game was going to be close, matching competitive teams with very good coaching on both sides.

But this day belonged to the Lady Rangers. As has become the pattern for the season, the Rangers struck first on a beautiful goal by senior Tyra Ponce just 11 minutes into the game. The Lady Cavs tried to answer and had some nice looks on goal. But the defense while bending never broke. Then with 14:25 left in the half, freshman Megan Dunnigan broke through the Lady Cav defense and scored putting the Rangers up 2-0. That lead proved to be enough as the defense shut Lake Travis down for the rest of the game allowing just a few serious scoring opportunities. The best opportunity for Lake Travis came in the 2nd half when a forward managed to sneak behind the Lady Ranger defense and had what looked to be a clear shot on the goal. That’s when goalie Shelby Sova showed her stuff when she went 1×1 with the LT forward, blocked the shot, and then fell on the ball in the box to preserve the shut-out. While the offense may get the headlines, the defense has been solid for Vista Ridge all year - allowing only 1 goal in all of district play.

The Lady Rangers will enjoy a bye next week before they return to action the week of March 24th. This marks the 4th consecutive year the Lady Rangers have qualified for the playoffs. Since the high school opened in 2003, every varsity ladies soccer team has qualified for the playoffs.

Congratulations to the Lady Rangers on another district championship, and another playoff berth. Good luck to them as they begin their march through the playoffs towards the state championships!

Lady Rangers Honor Seniors - Slam LBJ

On Monday night at VRHS, the Lady Rangers celebrated senior night with a lopsided victory over the LBJ Lady Jaguars. The 2nd class of seniors to ever graduate from Vista Ridge were honored at half-time with signed balls from all the players, flowers from their parents, and tears & hugs from the team. Each senior had provided pre-recorded comments to their team mates and coach - but the one theme was it ain’t over yet.

And so went another district game where the Rangers ruled from beginning to end. The Lady Jags are in 2nd place in the district and were playing at full strength this time around. That fact must have been lost on the Rangers as they lit up the scoreboard with 6 1st half goals and cruised in the 2nd half to a 9-0 win. Tyra Ponce started the scoring with a goal after a deflected shot by Megan Dunnigan. Ponce then returned the favor with a cross to Dunnigan for the Ranger’s 2nd goal. Dunnigan’s 2nd goal came a few minutes later she got behind the defense and faked the goalie for an easy score. Ponce scored next as she turned on the jets and outran the Lady Jag defense to put the Rangers up 4-0. Tyra then did it again to earn another hat trick for the year putting the Rangers up 5-0. Dunnigan then earned her hat trick with a goal that put the Rangers up 6-0.

Honored at half were graduating seniors - Lauren Frazier Tyra Ponce, Cassie Hutt, Rainee Mennitt, Catie McLaughlin, Christi Menitt, Alie Maudru, Jordan Potter, and Sharifa Mattis.

The 2nd half was all Rangers and again the defense put up a stout effort allowing regular goalie Shelby Sova to earn a little playing time in the field. Jordan Potter started the 2nd half scoring followed by Christi Mennit, and Megan Dunnigan.

The Rangers are off until next week when they’ll play for the district championship. Pictures of the game can be found at the goaubie galleries page.

Rangers Rip Lanier - 11-0

The Lady Rangers made their last visit to Nowalk fields Friday and easily beat Lanier 11-0. The Rangers will be moving from 4A to 5A next year and will be changing districts. But on this night, the focus was still on winning the district championship and getting ready for the playoffs.

The Lady Rangers struck early and often in the 1st half on their way to an 8-0 lead. Header goals were the night’s theme as the Rangers scored on 3 beautiful headers setup by terrific crossing passes. Scoring for the Rangers were Alex Ancira who had 4 goals (including a header) and 1 assist. Megan Dunnigan had 2 goals including 1 header. Senior Tyra Ponce had 2 goals and 3 assists. Hannah Gantt (header) finished the night with one goal on an assist from Jordan Potter. Even the defense got in on the scoring action with goal from Lesley Nguyen and Catie McLaughlin. The Rangers defense completely shut down Lanier so much so that keeper Shelby Sova played midfield backed up by Tera Thompson in goal in the 2nd half. Must have been a hard night for Tara - she was seen playing shadow puppets to keep herself entertained!

The Rangers will return to action Monday night at VRHS which will be senior night to honor the senior class.