Lady Raiders earn silver at host tournament

The Rice Lady Raiders hosted a tournament in Altair over this past weekend and ended up claiming second place.

The Lady Raiders defeated Caldwell and Hallettsville before losing to Royal in the championship game.

The Lady Raiders played similarly in the first two games against Caldwell and Hallettsville. They were aggressive and wasted no time putting points on the board.

The Lady Raiders speed and tenacity to hunt down the ball was on full display in the first two games. They played cohesively as a team and knew where each other were without looking.

A huge credit to head coach Maria Wagner for getting the Lady Raiders into some scrimmages before the season. The Lady Raiders reaped all its benefits and used it against Caldwell and Hallettsville.

The Lady Raiders suffered a couple of losses this season to high-level competition and were ready to make a stand. Hosting a tournament, they had the largest crowd out of all the teams participating and did not want to disappoint.

Playing fast, the Lady Raiders caught a lot of teams off guard and therefore out of position leading to them capitalizing on a lot of open field.

With all the confidence in the world and home field advantage, the Lady Raiders headed into the championship game to take on Royal. Royal came into this tournament heavily favored to win the whole thing and for a good reason.

They are very disciplined and don’t make many mistakes throughout the game and have a very powerful offense. The Lady Raiders, as usual, were ready for anything that could be thrown at them and met the challenge head on.

Royal came out and scored two early goals forcing the Lady Raiders to play catch up which is where they wanted them. The Lady Raiders fought valiantly but unfortunately the early Royal lead was too much to overcome.

The Lady Raiders let up two more goals to Royal before time ran out and fell in the championship game.

The Lady Raiders learned a lot from this tournament and now look ahead to their next game on Wednesday, Jan. 17, when they travel to Sealy to take on the Sealy Tigers.