The Woodlands did it again last season, making the regional tournament for the eighth time in nine years.

And this time it did with offense. The Highlanders beat Westfield and Round Rock McNeil 5-1 and ousted Lake Travis 2-0 to reach the Region II-5A semifinals, where they came up short in another matchup with McKinney Boyd, 2-1.

“We stuck to our gameplan, and we were able to go forward and score,” coach Hans Kleinschmidt said.

“We were very offensive last year, but this year getting back to the regional tournament is going to be tricky. Not that we don’t have dynamic players up front, but when you lose two goal scorers like we had last year, everybody expects you to be down.

“But I think we’re going to surprise some people with our maturity and ability to defend.”