Munstang's Moment

Houston Memorial captures 6A Girls Soccer State Title

Seth Livingston
Joshua Koch
Apr 26, 2018, 9:49 pm
Houston Memorial becomes the first girls soccer team from Houston to win a state championship since 2010. Vype

GEORGETOWN –Grace Collins netted two goals, Grace Yochum netted a goal, Bella Killgore preserved a shutout and Houston Memorial defeated Lewisville Marcus 3-0 in the Class 6A Girls Soccer State Championship match on Saturday at Birkelbach Field.

"In the offseason we just pushed ourselves, during season we pushed ourselves," Collins said. "We just won the state title, so I'm pretty sure we deserve some respect now."

Houston Memorial (28-0-1) becomes the first girls soccer team from Houston to win a state championship since The Woodlands in 2010.

This marks the seventh girls soccer state title to come to Houston – Kingwood (1995, 1999), Friendswood (2001), Klein Oak (2003), Katy Taylor (2006), The Woodlands (2010) and Memorial (2018).

"We came out of nowhere," Yochum said. "To be the underdog and win it all it's the greatest feeling in the world. I can't thank my friends, my family, my coaches enough for where we are."

Memorial is the first Spring Branch ISD team to win a soccer state championship on the girls or boys side.

Memorial last season didn't make it out of the second round, falling to eventual state champion Pflugerville Hendrickson in penalty kicks.

From that experience and returning 10 of 11 starters, 10th-year Memorial coach Lindley Amarentos believes is what the team needed to go over the top in 2018.

"We knew if (Pflugerville Hendrickson) can do it we can do it," Amarantos said. "We played right along with them and that was just the mantra that pushed us in the offseason, preseason and brought us to this point. These girls are just hard workers and they don't take no."

GEORGETOWN –Grace Collins netted two goals, Grace Yochum netted a goal, Bella Killgore preserved a shutout and Houston Memorial defeated Lewisville Marcus 3-0 in the Class 6A Girls Soccer State Championship match on Saturday at Birkelbach Field.

"In the offseason we just pushed ourselves, during season we pushed ourselves," Collins said. "We just won the state title, so I'm pretty sure we deserve some respect now."

Lewisville Marcus finishes the year 23-4-1.

Grace Yochum didn’t waste any time.

A day after scoring in the first 38 seconds against McAllen in the Class 6A Girls Soccer State Semifinal, Yochum accounted for the early offense again on Saturday.

In the second minute, Yochum broke free to the far side of the field, crossed a shot from 10 yards out sneaking it past Flower Mound Marcus’ Stephanie Starr, making it 1-0.

Just 12 minutes later, Memorial junior Grace Collins – a TCU commit – rocketed a shot from 35 yards out towards the Marcus goal. The ball smashed off the crossbar and came back hitting Starr in the back and then rolling into the net, making it 2-0.

Memorial outshot Marcus 7-4 in the first half.

Collins wasn’t done.

In the 42nd minute, Collins shook two defenders and fired one home from 20 yards out for her second goal of the match, making it 3-0, which would be the final.

Collins was named the Class 6A Girls Soccer Championship game MVP.

Kilgore finished the state tournament posting two shutouts, which gave her four in the playoffs.

Memorial finished the playoffs outscoring opponents 23-3.

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Houston wins another

Astros complete sweep of Rangers, Greinke grabs win number 10

Zack Greinke earned his 10th win of the season in Sunday's finale agains the Rangers. Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images

With the first two wins of the series under their belt, the Astros entered Sunday looking to take care of business before heading on the road. Despite the Rangers taking the first lead of the day, the Astros responded on offense and defense to erase the deficit to get the victory.

Final Score: Astros 3, Rangers 1

Astros' Record: 61-39, first in the AL West

Winning Pitcher: Zack Greinke (10-3)

Losing Pitcher: Dennis Santana (0-1)

Greinke, with some help, notches a quality start

Zack Greinke was doing well in the early goings of Sunday's finale. Despite allowing back-to-back singles to start the game, he stranded both runners to finish the top of the first. He followed that by erasing two more runners in the second, starting a stretch of eight straight batters which he would retire to make it through one out in the top of the fifth without allowing a run.

Texas finally added a blemish to his day at that point, getting a solo homer to grab their first lead in weeks. Greinke rebounded from it, sitting down the next two batters to finish the frame, then posted a 1-2-3 sixth. He returned for the top of the seventh, but would end his day with a struggle, loading the bases with no outs on a single, hit batter, and walk. That prompted Dusty Baker to bring in Cristian Javier, who saved Greinke's stat line by getting a strikeout and double play to keep the Rangers from scoring. Greinke's line: 6.0 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 1 HR, 86 P.

Houston grabs the lead

Houston's starter would leave in line for the win, thanks to the work of Cristian Javier, but also some timely offense in the two innings prior. With not much going for them in the first four innings, the Astros tried to take advantage of Chas McCormick being on base in the bottom of the fifth, sending him for a potential hit and run with Abraham Toro swinging.

That turned into two runs, with McCormick able to slow his run as Toro would launch a two-run go-ahead homer to erase the Rangers lead quickly. They extended the lead to two runs in the next inning, with Yordan Alvarez working a walk and then later scoring on an RBI single by Kyle Tucker, making it 3-1.

Astros finish the sweep

After cleaning up the inherited mess in the top of the seventh, Javier remained on the mound in the top of the eighth and made it through a 1-2-3 inning to give him six outs against five batters. With it still a two-run game in the top of the ninth, Ryan Pressly entered for the save opportunity. He notched it, sitting down the Rangers 1-2-3 to finish the sweep, handing Texas their twelfth straight loss.

Up Next: The Astros will head out west for an eight-game road trip starting with a three-game set with the Mariners kicking off at 9:10 PM Central on Monday. In the opener, Luis Garcia (7-5, 2.86 ERA) for Houston is slated to go opposite Darren McCaughan (0-0, 1.80 ERA), who will make his second career appearance and first start for Seattle.

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