Two months ago, Bridgeland girls’ soccer intended to make its presence known as the district competition was just beginning to heat up.
As fate would have it, the Bears achieved that and more with an utterly dominant undefeated (13-0-1) campaign to claim their third-consecutive District Championship title.
Not only that, but in her response to her promise to “end the first-round exit stigma”, star forward Anaiyah Robinson (junior) has been the catalyst behind Bridgeland’s surge past the first two rounds of the UIL postseason.
“It’s been such an amazing experience to have gotten this far, it almost doesn’t feel real,” said Robinson. “All the hard work that the girls and my coach [Kaitlyn Bourgeois] put in this season is starting to pay off when it really matters. Everyone has had such a positive mindset and focus, they all want to keep on going and don’t want the season to end.”
The Oklahoma-commit has been the headliner for the Bears’ attack throughout the Winter, which she carried over into the postseason having scored the game-deciding goal in their recent 1-0 victory over Grand Oaks in the Area Round.
“My consistency can be attributed to all the influences in my game,” Robinson said. “Between ECNL (Robinson’s club team), Bridgeland, and my personal trainer, I’ve been prepared for several different situations that carries over into the playoffs. When the pressure gets high, I really start to pay attention to the game because I just don’t want to lose.”
That tenacity to win is exactly what Bridgeland’s coach Kaitlyn Bourgeois has been pushing on the team.
“Coach always has choice words for us,” said Robinson. “She’ll tell us, ‘you want to leave here happy, or crying,’ and that’s usually all it takes to get us to dial in and focus.”
Next up for Robinson and company will be another red-hot team in the Tomball Cougars, who are just coming off a 3-1 win against Willis in the second round.
“Tomball is going to be a very good opponent. We know it’s going to be a dog-fight all game,” she said. “We are going to focus on the details and instructions our coach gives us on the scouting report which helps ease the pressure when you know your opponent.”
Round No. 3 should be just as exciting as the games that preceded it for Bridgeland. Stay tuned to see how far the Bears will go.