Comeback Season
Kingwood’s offensive firepower key to deep playoff run
Joshua Koch
Apr 5, 2018, 10:35 pm
Kingwood has won two UIL Girls Soccer State Championships. Vype
Kingwood women’s soccer is not new to piecing together a successful season year in and year out.
Last year, the Lady Mustangs advanced all the way to the Region III-6A Semifinal match against eventual state qualifier Katy Tompkins.
This season, a collision course of this same magnitude is in the cross hairs for Kingwood as it continues its march through the playoffs.
But this year that meeting could go differently mainly because the way Kingwood is scoring – an average of 4.2 goals per game.
“Our offense last year was pretty good,” Kingwood coach Pres Holcombe said. “Colleen was one of our forwards and she’s lightening fast. Emma was also a varsity player last year but this year she has stepped into a bigger role tremendously. She scored four goals in our first playoff game, which is crazy.
“So in the attack with her and Alex Dumas and Carly Stroud, we have a very powerful offense.”
Kingwood wrapped up its remarkable 28th-straight District Championship on March 23 with a 5-0 win against C.E. King.
The Lady Mustangs finished District 21-6A play with a mark of 13-0-1.
“We wanted to end district really well because it sets you up for playoffs,” Kingwood sophomore Emma Ebert said. “We wanted to make sure we ended it strongly and kept our streak.”
Ebert has been a big key to why Kingwood’s offense has soared in 2018.
The sophomore in district play alone netted 14 goals and recorded five assists. For the season, Ebert is second on the team with 24 goals and 11 assists.
“I think I’ve grown more confident this year since it’s my second year,” Ebert said. “I’ve been working on my accuracy more this year. Last year I missed a lot, this year I’ve been focusing on that.”
Along with Ebert, Stephen F Austin commit Colleen Feagins has continued her impressive career with another stellar season.
Feagins, the reigning District 21-6A Offensive MVP, leads Kingwood with 27 goals and 14 assists.
The offensive juggernaut that Kingwood has created this season, outscoring opponents 30-1 in the final six district contests, has been a big help to first-year goalkeeper Mikayla Carlos.
“We have a really great offense, their shots are amazing.” Carlos said. “Trying to save them in practice is a challenge for me and so I feel like I’ve gotten better as a keeper trying to save their goals.”
In district play, Carlos allowed just four goals and made 21 saves. Overall on the year, Carlos let by seven goals, while making 49 saves.
The combination of the offensive firepower of Feagins, Ebert and also add in Alex Dumas (9 goals) and Carly Stroud (6 goals) and the defensive prowess of the back line and play of Carlos in goal makes Kingwood a dangerous team.
Kingwood enters the second round of the playoffs ranked No. 6 in the most recent Texas Girls Coaches Association poll. The only two Houston programs in front of them in the rankings are No. 4 Cinco Ranch and No. 1 The Woodlands.
Kingwood will try and get back to the Region III Tournament again in hopes of reaching the state tournament for the first time since 2002.
“Last year since it was my first year, I really didn’t know what to expect or what I was going into,” Ebert said about playing as a freshman last year. “But this year I feel more confident knowing what’s going to happen and what we’re going to go through.”
Kingwood has won two UIL Girls Soccer State Championships in program history in 1995 and 1999.
Kingwood faces George Ranch in the Area round of the 2018 playoffs today at 5 p.m. at Challenger Stadium.
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How Astros advanced metrics tell puzzling story about Houston's start
Apr 17, 2025, 5:21 pm
Major League Baseball’s regular season is 162 games long. You can think of 18 games as the first inning of the season, 18 times nine equaling 162. While the Astros 8-10 record is not good, it’s far from disastrous. Think of it as them being behind 1-0 after the first inning. It is pretty remarkable that they have yet to win consecutive games. Even during last year’s 7-19 stink bomb of a start the Astros twice managed to win two in a row.
The Astros’ offensive woes are plentiful. Oddly enough as impotent as they’ve been, the Astros have yet to be shutout. But in half their games they have scored exactly one or two runs. Basically, most of them stink thus far. Exemptions go to Jose Altuve and Isaac Paredes, but it’s not like either of them has been outstanding. It’s still early enough that one big series can dramatically alter the numbers, but the Astros badly need Yordan Alvarez to pick up his production. Yordan enters the weekend batting just .224 with a .695 OPS and just four extra base hits. Yainer rhymes with minor. As in minor leagues, where Diaz belongs at his current level of performance. That is not saying Diaz should be sent down, just that any random AAA catcher called up couldn’t have done much worse to this point. Diaz isn’t hitting Altuve’s weight, a woeful .130 with seven hits in 57 at bats. Diaz simply remains too undisciplined at the plate swinging at too many balls. He’s drawn three walks. And now to Christian Walker, who thus far has delivered return on investment for his three year 60 million dollar contract about as strong as the stock market’s performance in Tariff Time. Walker’s .154 batting average and .482 OPS are very Astro Jose Abreu-like. Walker’s23 strikeouts in 65 at bats jump off the page. In the batter’s box he has often looked befuddled. Walker is definitely pressing and frustrated, wanting to perform better for his new team. Jeremy Pena goes into the weekend batting .215 and has one hit in 13 at bats with runners in scoring position. Brendan Rodgers, Jake Meyers, and Chas McCormick all have weak stat lines, with little reason to expect quality offensive output from any of them. Cam Smith is at .200 with a yucky .591 OPS but he’s obviously a young stud work in progress thrown into the deep end of the pool.
All batting orders are top-heavy, the Astros’ on paper more so than many. As I set forth on one of our Stone Cold ‘Stros podcasts this week, the first inning should be a team’s best offensive inning. It’s the only frame in which a team gets to dictate who comes up from the start with the batters lined up just as the manager slots them. Add to that, the first inning is a good time to get to a starting pitcher before he settles in. The Astros have scored a pitiful three first inning runs in 18 games, and in two of the games they pushed one across in the first, it turned out to be the only Astro run of the game. Improvement needs to come internally from the big league roster. It’s not as if the Astros have a meaningful prospect at AAA Sugar Land who looks ready to help. Entering play Thursday the Space Cowboys’ team average was .186. Second base hopeful Brice Matthews is nowhere close, batting .180 and striking out left and right. Outfielder Jacob Melton opened three for 17 following the back injury-delayed start to his season.
As exasperating and boring as the offense has been for so many, grading needs to occur on a curve. So, while the Astros’ team batting average is a joke at .216, know that at close of business Wednesday the entire American League was batting just .232. The American League West-leading Texas Rangers scored eight fewer runs over their first 18 games than did the Astros, though that is skewed by the Astros’ one 14-run outburst against the Angels.
Familiar faces return
This weekend the Astros play host to the San Diego Padres at Daikin Park. The Friars are off to a fabulous start at 15-4. The Padres being here creates a mini reunion as both Martin Maldonado and Yuli Gurriel are on their roster. In a telling fact, Maldonado would have the third-highest batting average on the Astros if on the team with his current numbers. Maldonado is hitting .250 with seven hits in 28 at bats. The last season he finished above .200 was 2020. The only season in his career Maldonado topped .234 was his rookie season with a .266 mark in 2012.
Gurriel was last good in 2021 when he won the American League batting title at .319. He fell off a cliff from there, though perked up to have a fine postseason in the Astros’ 2022 run to World Series title number two. “La Pina” is batting .115 with just three hits in 26 at bats. Gurriel may be released soon, and approaching his 41st birthday June 9, that would probably be the end of the line. Short-timer Astro Jason Heyward is also on the Padres, and batting .190.
For Astro-centric conversation, join Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and me for the Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast which drops each Monday afternoon, with an additional episode now on Thursday. Click here to catch!
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