Judging from the level of play displayed at the 5A-Region III girls soccer Friday at Deer Park ISD's Abshier Stadium, it was evident that a state berth was on the minds of all the participants.

So setting the tone early in games would be on of the key factors to victory. And Kingwood (25-3) proved that with a 1-0 victory over Katy Taylor (21-5-1) in the second of two semifinals.

“We try to set the tone early. You know in soccer you have to always stay offensive,” Kingwood coach Rennie Rebe said. “Sometimes you can shoot and shoot and shoot and not score so you have to keep up the opportunities to have a chance to score.”

Kingwood did plenty of that. The game's only goal came when Taylor Padia assisted on a goal that was scored by midfielder Shannon MacNaughton just more than a minute into the game. There were quite a few other players who came through with strong performances, but for Rebe that is what brings this team the success.

And having multiple weapons has other advantages as well.

“The team is what is going to get us there. We have some individual performers, but we are going to need different people to step up so nobody can scout us,” Rebe said. “And it is going to take a team effort to get where you want to go.”

Kingwood nearly had another score in the second half, but was waived off due to an off sides penalty. Though Kingwood kept the ball on the offensive side of the quite a bit, the Taylor team did get several good looks at the goal.

And because of Mother Nature, the Taylor team had another advantage that is hard to account for, the wind. Rebe and her coaching staff tried to anticipate this, but a few things changed.

The wind shifted. We tried to go where we would have the wind with us in the second half, but shifted so we just had to make adjustments,” Rebe said. “We just had to keep the ball in front of us and we did a good job of that.”

Next up for Kingwood is Clear Lake (16-2-4) in the regional final at 12:30 p.m. Saturday at Abshier.

“It will be a fun game. All of these games are fun,” Rebe said. “All the teams at this level are pretty equal, so you have to have the heart and desire to finish games. At this level it is all about who wants it more and can put it into the back of the net.”

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