Lady Lions soccer grabs sole possession of district lead with PK shootout triumph at Stephenville

February 17, 2026 at 9:25 pm Derrick Stuckly

Ailean Palacios ( 8 ) scored the first goal and the last goal for Brownwood (12-2-1, 4-0), which begins the second half of the 5-4A schedule at Lampasas Friday

STEPHENVILLE – In the first meeting of last year’s District 5-4A soccer co-champions, the Brownwood Lady Lions took the upper hand in the quest for a repeat with a penalty kick shootout victory over the Stephenville Honeybees Tuesday night.

Knotted at 2 at the end of regulation, the Lady Lions (12-2-1, 4-0) and Honeybees (7-10, 3-1) were also deadlocked at three goals apiece at the end of the standard penalty kick shootout. Forced to a sixth shooter, a goal from Ailean Palacios and a save by Emily Diaz gave Brownwood its sixth win in a row and sole possession of the 5-4A lead.

“What a game, what a night,” said Lady Lions head coach Alexis Walker. “I couldn’t be more proud of this group of girls. Going into this season we only returned four of our 11 starters. This team is made up of almost a completely new group of girls and for them to step up to this challenge, continue to fight through adversity, and pull away with a big win tonight is the icing on top. We still have a lot of soccer to play and we are excited about our opportunities ahead.”

In the penalty kick shootout, Palacios, Bella Garza, Madison Weckwerth and Khloe Galvan converted their attempts for Brownwood, while Emily Diaz made two stops in goal.

“We are very familiar with PKs, we do them every day at the end of practice to be prepared for moments like these,” Walker said. “Three of our girls stepped up and made theirs and Emily Diaz had a great save on of our theirs. We were tied after our five shooters, so I chose Ailean Palacios to step up and take our sixth shot. Before she went Emily Diaz had a huge save for us against their sixth shooter. Ailean was able to step up and bury her shot. For a freshman to take on that challenge is incredible.”

The Lady Lions rallied twice to force the extra session as Stephenville took a 1-0 lead in the first half before Palacios evened the score at 1 with an assist from Nylah Hall in her season debut.

Tied at 1 at halftime, the Lady Lions again fell behind before Gale Balfour scored with an assist from Alayna Hernandez to make the score 2-all.

“We were down 2-1 with 10 minutes left to play and we were able to find a goal off a corner kick,” Walker said. “Gale Balfour made the goal to tie us up and send us to PKs. What a great moment for our team. They continued to play hard through adversity and never gave up on each other.”

The Lady Lions start the second half of the District 5-4A schedule at 5:30 p.m. Friday at Lampasas. Brownwood won the first meeting at Gordon Wood Stadium, 4-0, on Feb. 3.