“We did it, y’all.” These are the words printed on the back of the 2015 Lady Bear Soccer Playoff shirts and these words could not be any truer. The Lady Bears finished the district season with an 8-4 record and advanced to the playoffs, where they will battle Jasper tonight at 7 p.m. in Beaumont.

The season had its share of ups and downs and the ladies competed against several challenging opponents, including Hardin-Jefferson and Hampshire-Fannett.

“Both were very good teams,” junior captain Makenzie Hearn said. “We played very hard against them.”

In order to prepare for the playoffs, which can be much more grueling than district play, the team has been working extra hard in practice and getting in a few extra workouts throughout the week, including a few practice scrimmages.

“We ran to build our legs back up and we scrimmaged the boys JV team,” junior captain Alexis Cox said.

According to Hearn, a big part of the team’s success is figuring out how to effectively communicate with each other as a whole unit.

“We know how to work together as a team and get the job done,” she said. “We have a lot of new players this season who will do anything you ask and are getting impressively better.”

The team has worked hard and so far, have managed to stay on task with the goals they set for themselves at the beginning of the season.

“Some of our goals this season are just to work hard and have fun,” Hearn said. “If you do these two things, you can be successful.”