Katy girls soccer coach Dianne Loftin knew as well as anyone that six games in the first two days of the I-10 Shootout had ended in scoreless ties.

Loftin wasn’t afraid to admit she was tired of the trend, especially because her Tigers were involved once and had another 1-1 game.

But shootout victories against Langham Creek and Friendswood got Katy to Saturday’s East Bracket final, and one of the Tigers’ several contributing underclassmen took it on herself to score.

Freshman forward Kayla Walker scored both Katy goals in a 2-0 victory against Cypress Woods, the first of four pool championship games Saturday at Rhodes Stadium.

“We’ve been struggling the last two games not scoring,” Loftin said. “We’ve had opportunities but we’ve passed them up or missed shots. Today it was a focus for us to finish something. I think they’re working hard and maybe a little overworking at times … but finally we settled down and played some possession.”

Walker scored her first goal 11 minutes into the game, emerging from a tangle with teammate Emily Jurecka to get loose.

Walker tacked on an insurance goal with 1:50 left in the second half.

“I got the ball passing and I took it on my chest,” Walker said of the first goal. “I told (Emily) I had it and it went in.”

The Tigers, who have three seniors who play almost constantly but are depending heavily on eight juniors and four sophomores, improved to 2-1-3.

Katy is 2-1 in shootouts.

“We’re getting better every time we go out,” Loftin said. “We have a freshman (Morgan Griffin) in the back who have improved a great deal and is solid. It’s exciting to get some younger players on (the field), but my leadership is still coming from my top seniors.”

Much of the game was played on Cy Woods’ end, but the result was anything but certain until Walker took a nice crossing pass from Erica De La Fuente to make it 2-0 in the final moments.

Given Loftin’s emphasis on possession ball, it was an especially gratifying goal.

“I knew there wasn’t much time left in the game and I had to give it my best shot,” Walker said. “I wanted it bad. I’d missed a few shots and I was glad I got that one in.”

SOUTH: Katy Taylor 2, The Woodlands 0

Campbell Busfield scored an unlikely goal in the final minute of the first half to jumpstart Katy Taylor’s upset of powerhouse Kingwood in the South Bracket championship.

Busfield appeared to fall off-balance after striking the ball well. It was Taylor’s only shot of a half which Kingwood dominated but failed to punch in a goal.

“She had worked for about 18 minutes to get tht goal,” Taylor (4-0) coach Mark Kluppel said. “We were playing only one forward today and she kept the ball moving from side to side. I told her before the game she’d have to work hard and might be frustrating, but she kept going at it and she got rewarded.”

Rachel Murray added insurance with 13 minutes left on nearly as surprising a goal as Busfield’s. Her shot sailed straight at Kingwood goalie Maggie Cullen, who had it bounce off her hands and into the upper right corner of the goal.

“I think our team got confidence knowing no one was scoring on (Taylor goalie Natalie Strabala) today,” Kluppel said. “Nothing cheap was going to get in and our defense just kept getting stronger. Kingwood didn’t get many shots at all in the second half.”

NORTH: Deer Park 1, Cypress Creek 0

Jordan Mobley’s open-net goal with 14:25 left in the first half carried 2007 state finalist Deer Park past Cypress Creek in the North Bracket final.

After the ball bounced off a few players, Mobley got the rebound and kicked into an empty net.

Deer Park is picking up where it left off in 2007 – the Deer allowed only five goals last year, three in a state championship game loss to Plano West.

WEST: Morton Ranch 3, Cypress Falls 2

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