Five San Antonio-area high school boys and three girls soccer teams are only two wins from earning a spot at the UIL state tournament on April 10-13 at Birkelbach Field in Georgetown.

With regional tournaments on Friday and Saturday at Comalander Stadium, Brownsville Sports Park and Corpus Christi’s Cabaniss Field, here are some key storylines to watch for:

Same round, different team
A year ago, a young and inexperienced Southwest boys team advanced to the Region IV-5A tournament.

The Dragons lost to Mission Sharyland 2-0 in the regional semifinals, but in a way, they came away as winners. The experience of playing on such a high stage is paying dividends.

Southwest (22-2-1) faces Brownsville Lopez at 4 p.m. Friday in the regional semifinals at Cabaniss Field in Corpus Christi.

“I think last year definitely helped us to know what type of mentality that we’ve got to have going into games, knowing how to prepare for opponents,” Southwest coach Juan Romero said. “This year, I feel like the team’s a lot more prepared than last year when we were going into the regional tournament. I just feel getting that year under their belts, you can definitely see the difference in this year’s team.”

The Dragons are unbeaten in their last 21 games (20-0-1) following back-to-back losses to Pflugerville Connally and Round Rock at the Georgetown Showcase in early January.

Southwest’s latest victory came on Tuesday, a 5-2 decision vs. MacArthur in the third round. Ramiro Flores scored two goals, including one only 25 seconds into the contest, and Santiago Delgadillo, Santiago Rangel and Caleb Barajas added one goal apiece as the Dragons built a 5-0 advantage with 13 minutes left to play.

MacArthur scored twice to pull within 5-2 with six minutes left but got no closer as Southwest held firm the rest of the way.

“I think, for us, the key in this game was being able to set the tone, being able to play our style of soccer,” Romero said. “Scoring so early, that kind of helped us out tremendously. I felt like our boys didn’t freak out after they scored. The refs made a call and gave them a second one — a lot of teams very easily could’ve lost their composure — but I thought our boys did a great job of calming it down and finishing out the game.”

A rubber match?
One team has emerged as a Class 4A state title contender over the past decade. The other has become a fast riser in its short history.

With a win by each on Friday, Boerne (20-1-3) and Davenport (16-3-2) will play for the Region IV-4A championship — and a berth to the UIL state tournament — for the second season in a row. Boerne prevailed 1-0 a year ago on Sophia Harper’s game-winner with 70 seconds left.

The Greyhounds face Corpus Christi London (22-5) at 4:30 p.m. and Davenport (16-3-2) takes on Corpus Christi Calallen (21-2-1) at 6:30 p.m. Friday at Cabaniss Field in Corpus Christi.

Davenport and Boerne shared the District 26-4A title, both finishing with 7-1-2. The Wolves captured the league’s No. 1 playoff seed, however, thanks to a head-to-head tiebreaker (2-1 win vs. Boerne on Feb. 9). The teams played to a scoreless draw on March 1 in their second district encounter.

The Greyhounds have advanced to the state tournament each of the past two seasons but were hit hard by graduation a year ago, losing such standouts as Kylie Combs, Madeline Davis, Hannah Bowen and Kassie Lozano. They, however, have barely skipped a beat, opening the season with 12 straight wins and never looking back.

Boerne blanked Wimberley 3-0, getting a goal each from Isabella Pettet, Mahaley Merkins and Kailey Stringfellow.

Davenport is at regionals for the second year in a row. The Wolves are paced by forward Rylee Reisdorph, who has 42 goals this season and 104 overall, and defender Logan Strong. Davenport topped Canyon Lake 5-2 in the third round behind Frances Vega’s three goals and two goals from Emily Chabot.

Making amends
In 2023, Boerne was on the cusp of capturing an unprecedented third straight UIL Class 4A state crown.

But a loss to Hidalgo in penalty kicks in the regional final halted the dream. Hidalgo went on to win the state championship.

Almost quietly, Boerne has put together a dominating campaign. The Greyhounds (20-0) have recorded 12 shutouts and yielded only 10 goals heading into their regional semifinal contest vs. Hidalgo (17-6) at 2 p.m. Friday at Cabaniss Field in Corpus Christi.

In the other semifinal, La Vernia (23-3-2) takes on Progreso (26-1-2), a perennial regional-tournament qualifier, at noon. La Vernia is making its first trip to a regional tournament.

Seeking a breakthrough
Harlan is at the Region IV-6A tournament for the third time in four seasons. Johnson is on this stage for the second time in its history and the first time since 2017.

Both will be seeking their first win at the regional tournament on Friday.

Johnson (18-4-4) tangles with Edinburg North at 4 p.m. and Harlan (18-3-4) takes on Austin Vandegrift at 6 p.m. at Comalander Stadium.

Harlan, which is unbeaten in its last 20 matches (16-0-4) made it this far in 2021 and 2022 but lost both times to Austin Lake Travis. Johnson fell to La Joya Juarez-Lincoln 3-0 in the regional semifinals in 2017.

The Hawks have ridden the 1-2 scoring punch of Greydn Richards (27 goals, 12 assists) and Josh Olivares (10 goals, 13 assists) and a stingy defense that hasn’t allowed a goal during the postseason.

Johnson is paced by forward Diego Robles, who is signed with Incarnate Word and has tallied a team-best 35 goals, and Rodolfo Galvan (11 goals, 16 assists). Robles has notched seven goals in the playoffs, including the game-winner in all three of the Jaguars’ matches.

terrence@terrencesports.com
Twitter: @sa_terrence1