Clear Lake/Bay Area roundup: Clear Lake girls set for state tourney

Clear Lake girls soccer coach Andy Gaworecki and his Lady Falcons would love to get another shot at McKinney Boyd in the state finals, but first, they must get past Colleyville Heritage.

Clear Lake (23-2-4) meets Colleyville Heritage (21-2-1) at 11 a.m. Friday, April 15, in the University Interscholastic League State Tournament Class 5A semifinals at Georgetown ISD's Birkelbach Field, and the winner faces McKinney Boyd (26-1-1) or San Antonio Johnson (18-5-3) at 4 p.m. Saturday, April 16, for the championship.

McKinney Boyd and San Antonio Johnson play at 1 p.m. Friday, and Gaworecki knows a little bit about those teams.

"We've played McKinney Boyd twice this season, and tied them 1-1, and lost 1-0, and a third shot would be nice because that means we've advanced to the finals," he said, "and San Antonio Johnson is coached by (former Clear Lake girls coach) Ashley Garrison, and that's who I took over for, so it's kind of an interesting sidebar.

"As far as Colleyville Heritage, we've never played them, and I don't know a whole lot about them, but we know it will be a battle to get past them."

This is the Lady Falcons' third trip to state in four seasons under Gaworecki, and in the previous tries, they fell 2-0 in the semifinals to Plano East in 2008 and The Woodlands in 2009.

Clear Lake was knocked out by Seven Lakes in the region semifinals last year, but returned the favor by beating Seven Lakes 2-1 in the 2011 region finals last week.

"The girls were after revenge because we felt like we should have beat Seven Lakes a year ago," Gaworecki said. "We beat them in the region finals in 2009, so we're getting pretty familiar with them in the postseason."

Senior Brittney Wade and junior Jillian Lutz scored goals, and senior Tori Sample had an assist, in the 2-1 win over Seven Lakes in the region finals, and Lutz scored off a Wade assist in a 1-0 victory against Katy Taylor in the region semis.

The Lady Falcons also feature seniors Alex Arlitt, Sandy Kirk, Lauren Trueheart, Erin McLemore, Christine Van Baalen and Shelbi Lamar, and this class came close to being 4-for-4 in state tournaments.

"Winning a state title would be like a dream ending for them," Gaworecki said. "But first, we have to beat Colleyville Heritage and get to the championship game, and that's what we're focusing on."

Clear Falls earns more district berths

For a first-year school competing with freshmen and sophomores, Clear Falls continues to pile up district honors and region berths.

In District 24-4A tennis, Cy Falls' Krishna Jana took first place in boys singles with a 6-0, 6-0 win against Dawson's Brandon Nguyen last week, and both advance to the Class 4A Region III Tournament on Monday and Tuesday, April 18-19, in Willis.

In 24-4A golf, the Knights captured the boys district championship, and the Clear Falls girls finished second, and both teams advance to the Region III Tournament on Monday and Tuesday in Huntsville.

Clear Lake girls take 24-5A golf

The Clear Lake Lady Falcons chalked up another District 24-5A golf championship and they go for a state berth at the Class 5A Region III Tournament next week at the Eagle Pointe Course in Mont Belvieu.

Regionals are Monday and Tuesday, April 18-19, for the girls, with the boys playing April 20-21.

At district, the Clear Springs girls placed second to earn a region berth, with Clear Creek third and Clear Brook fourth.

Clear Creek boys water polo

The Clear Creek Wildcats will be at this week's TISCA Water Polo State Tournament after a region runner-up finish last week in Pearland.

Coach Anne Woolweaver's Wildcats beat Lamar 10-2 in the region semifinals before falling to Baytown Sterling 9-6 in the finals.

Clear Creek will be among the top teams at state on Friday and Saturday, April 15-16, at the Conroe ISD Natatorium, and will be led by region MVP and senior Peter Silkowski, and fellow all-region picks sophomore Scott Lyle, junior Tripp Gaffney and senior Ben Musso.

Clear Springs girls water polo

The Clear Springs Lady Chargers qualified for this week's TISCA Water Polo State Tournament with a fourth place at regionals last week in Pearland.

Coach Sean Kapp's Lady Chargers fell to Lamar 6-3 in the region third-place game, but they earned a state berth because they reached the final four.

The team is led by all-region selections and seniors Elizabeth Demel and Kimbre Watkins, and juniors Elsa Ybarra and Logan Reed.

Clear Creek netters qualify

Clear Creek tennis had six players qualify for regionals last week at the District 24-5A Tournament, with senior Bianca Quintanilla and junior Haley Albro winning in girls doubles, and senior Casey Armstrong and Jakub Kudela placing first in boys doubles.

Clear Creek almost made it a clean sweep in doubles with seniors Sammy Siegel and Hunter Carrithers falling in a three-set finale against Clear Lake's Jordan Sullivan and Adriana Ocon.

Clear Lake's Katharine Miller was the 24-5A girls singles champion thanks to a 6-3, 0-6, 7-6 (7-4) marathon win over Clear Brook's Julia Dang, and Clear Lake's Kevin Wang was second in boys singles to Pearland's Daniel Hernandez.

Clear Creek girls and Clear Lake boys captured 24-5A team championships at the district event in Alvin.