For a little more than 40 minutes, the Warren High School girls soccer team found itself in unfamiliar territory during a showdown vs. Sotomayor for first place in District 28-6A on March 4.

The Warriors had dominated all season, seemingly scoring at will while stubbornly yielding ground. They had outscored their opponents 60-1 through 17 matches. But at halftime, facing a rare deficit, with a prize they haven’t claimed in more than two decades hanging in the balance, Warren had reason to hang its head.

Sparked by a motivational pep talk from Coach Mario Garcia, Warren instead went to work. The renewed vigor produced two goals in 16 minutes as Warren rallied for a 2-1 win at Farris Stadium.

The Warriors (16-1-1, 12-1-1) all but secured winning the 28-6A crown. They can grab at least a share of the title with a tie and claim it outright with a win in their final two league contests. It would be the program’s first district championships since 2005 when Warren was led by legendary coach Liz Sandoval and Division I players Christine Walker and Chelsea Nobles. The Warriors tied O’Connor for the crown that year, their second in only their third varsity season.

“I’m just so proud of the program,” said Warren senior forward Chloe Lombard, who is signed with NCA Division II Missouri Southern State. “It’s huge. We really had a lot of motivation for it.”

The incentive didn’t kick in until the Warriors trailed for the first time this season. Sotomayor (15-5-3, 11-2-2) led 1-0 at halftime when senior forward Jayden Echols found room right in front of the goal and tapped in a pass from teammate Ashlyn Davis in the 21st minute.

“At halftime, we had a great talk and, honestly, I feel like we needed to hear it,” Lombard said. “We were really losing each other. We really needed a team like this (to push us). It was two really good teams. It was who wanted it more, and we showed it.”

Barely two minutes into the second half, Warren tied it at 1-1 when senior Jocelyn Flores ran onto a pass from Gabriella Redondo that was misplayed by an opponent, fended off a defender and pocketed a shot into the upper left corner.

Sixteen minutes later, moments after subbing into the match, sophomore Inaya Cole headed in the game-winner off a pass from senior Lyliana Ketchens.

“I was just thinking that we just needed to be calm and kind of focus on our play, and get back into the game,” Cole said of her second goal of the season and first since scoring during a 3-0 win vs. Kerrville Tivy on Jan. 9. “We started connecting more.”

Warren held off Sotomayor the rest of the way, securing the triumph when goalkeeper Kady Cleary, who is signed with Division II Angelo State, deflected and then batted away a free kick as it was about to cross into the goal with 17 minutes left.

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