The reigning District 5-4A soccer co-champion Brownwood Lady Lions began their quest for a second straight league championship with a 4-0 home victory over Lampasas Tuesday night at Gordon Wood Stadium.

The Lady Lions (9-2-1, 1-0) raced out to a 3-0 advantage over Lampasas (10-3, 0-1) by halftime. Madison Weckwerth recorded a pair of goals while Autumn Reeves and Kynlie Lewis added one apiece, while Emily Diaz recorded the shutout in goal.

“The girls played really well,” said Lady Lions head coach Alexis Walker. “We talked a lot coming into this that our expectation is put back three in the back of the net and get a shutout, which is how you earn the most points in district, and we took care of that in the first half. I was really pleased with that, and then they were able to capitalize on one more in the second half, so it was a good night. I’m really proud of them.”

The Lady Lions opened the scoring with 14:14 left in the first half when Reeves found an opening in the top left corner of the net from 20 yards away.

“Autumn opened with the first goal tonight, and also had the first goal last year against Lampasas,” Walker said. “She has her best games against Lampasas. She’s the first person that comes off the bench for us and brings a lot of fire to the team.”

Brownwood stretched the lead to 2-0 with 7:20 left before halftime as Weckwerth scored her first goal off an assist from Alayna Hernandez.

“I talked in the preseason about how we’re starting a whole new formation and it involves Alayna a lot because we’re playing a defensive center mid,” Walker said. “I told her leading up to it her job was to be the pivot for everyone, for our defense and offense, and she does a great job of that. She played a beautiful ball through to Madison, who was able to capitalize on it.”

With 1:07 remaining in the half, Reeves was fouled in the box and Weckwerth attempted and converted the penalty kick.

“I knew Madison could step up and put it in the back of the net for us,” Walker said. “We do PKs at the end of every practice and just watching her consistently take them, I had an idea she was the one I wanted to put on the line to take that.”

The second-half goal came near the midway point with 20:24 left as Hernandez again assisted Lewis.

“Alayna does a great job distributing to our three forwards this year, and Kynlie was able to step up and put that one in the back of the net,” Walker said.

Regarding the defensive shutout, Walker said, “We’ve given up goals in only three games, so I tell our offensive girls the defense is going to keep us in the game. We have such good defensive leadership back there with Nixon Johnson as a captain, Rebekkah Delgado right next to her, they’re our two center backs and control the whole game. Gail Balfour on the left and Bella Garza on the right, all four of them work so cohesively together. And then our goalie, Emily Diaz, she didn’t have a lot of shots on goal today but she does exactly what she’s supposed to and communicates with them.”

The Lady Lions are off until Tuesday, Feb. 10 when they visit Little River Academy at 5 p.m.