The Sealy Lady Tiger soccer squad opens play within District 20-4A Friday evening against the Hempstead Bobcats on Mark A. Chapman Field at T.J. Mills Stadium with kickoff scheduled for 5 p.m.

On the pitch Friday night, Sealy Head Girls Soccer Coach Sydney Jones said the team will be looking to accomplish more than just earning a win on the scoreboard.

“More than just to win it but look at more of the team stuff, like we know what it is we're working on so looking to see are we accomplishing those things that we set out? All the things that we're talking about through practice this week and some of the strategies, did we execute them or do we not,” Jones posed in a Tuesday afternoon interview. “Obviously, throughout district our goal is to try to win every district game and come out on top in district but also still looking within each one of those not just for the winning but also are we still improving? Because we're going to need that when we get to playoffs, we're going to need to see those improvements every single game.”

The Lady Tigers closed the non-district portion of their schedule with a 2-3 record with wins over Brazosport (4-0) and Waller (2-1) and losses to Giddings (4-0), Houston Milby (1-0) and Katy (6-0).

Sealy was supposed to compete in the Giddings Tournament last weekend but the group of games was canceled instead. Jones said the team had been looking forward to the competition but was able to catch up on rest.

“I think a lot of them were kind of upset that we had to cancel that tournament because that was going to be really good for us. We had Giddings then Bellville that first day so both of those are going to be great competition,” Jones said. “I imagine today in practice they're gonna be ready to work, but also just excited to get out of the house and be able to kick the ball around again and be together.”

This week, the Lady Tigers also had extra practice time with no early-week match before Friday’s district match and Jones said the lessons learned from the non-district finale against Katy were put into life.

“Our game against Katy, I think shed some light on us and some things that we really needed to work on. It was a good matchup, it was a tough game. We spent pretty much the whole game on defense, but I think that, in a way, it actually helped them realize we've got to find a way to get the ball into offense,” she said. “We're going to work on more scoring opportunities, add a little bit more offensive strategies in there and continue to fine-tune some things and then we're ready for Friday. We're ready to roll.”

After the Bobcats, Sealy will host Rice Consolidated and Harmony School of Discovery next week Monday and Friday, respectively.

The Lady Tigers were the only ones in their district to collect more than one non-district win. Columbus finished 1-2-1, Navasota was 1-3, Bellville worked to a 1-4 mark and Royal (0-5), Hempstead (0-2) and Rice Consolidated (0-1) were still searching for its first wins of the regular season.