Robert E. Lee senior Taylor Tillson battles for the ball against Mesquite Horn in a game played earlier this week. Tillson was one of several seniors that contributed on the scoresheet for Senior Night in Lee's 8-1 win over DeSoto. (Staff Photo by Sarah A. Miller)

Robert E. Lee did what it had to do, but Longview did not reciprocate.

The Lady Raiders entered Friday’s game against DeSoto trailing Longview by four points in the District 11-5A standings. Lee and Longview face off in the final match of district, but in order to make it mean something, REL had to beat DeSoto coupled with a Longview loss against Mesquite Horn. This would place the teams in a near tie entering the final game, which REL had at home against the Lady Lobos.

Now, none of that matters.

The Lady Raiders blitzed DeSoto 8-1 on “Senior Night” at Lee Soccer Field, but soon heard word of Longview rallying with a goal in the closing minute to defeat Mesquite Horn.

“Oh well, it’s our own fault,” Lee coach Chris Woodard said. “Maybe it will be a good lesson to our young players.”

REL put itself in a precarious spot earlier this week when it failed to hold a 2-0 halftime lead over Horn, losing 3-2. Those dropped points ended up being critical as Longview clinched the District 11-5A title with REL now needing success against Longview to hang onto second. Lee (5-2-2, 18 points) holds a one-point lead over North Mesquite (5-3-1, 17 points) with one game left to play.

But before this drama unfolded, Lee honored its seven seniors prior to kickoff as Allie Telscher, Kristin Williams, Taylor Tillson, Abby Jameson, Katie Horn, Lindsey Roberts and Brooke Green were all acknowledged.

Then the seniors took turns putting balls into the DeSoto net. Tillson finished with two goals and two assists, Jameson had a goal and an assist and Green finished with a goal and an assist. Some underclassmen also got into the act with goals by Brooke Johnston, Julia Harrison and Betsy Arellano.

“The past couple games have been very frustrating for us,” Tillson said as Lee snapped a two-game slide with the victory. “We won tonight and we are going to try and win against Longview and see how it pans out.

“Hopefully we can get it together and go into the playoffs with some momentum.”

DeSoto (0-9) got its goal thanks to a brilliant individual move from Akilah Ellis, who dribbled through Lee players before hitting a low shot into the corner of the net.

Lee keepers Alyson Johnson and Madi McCann combined on the clean sheet as Tillson missed a second-straight game because of an injured back.

Red Raiders Blow Out DeSoto, 4-0

DESOTO — Robert E. Lee shook off a sluggish first half to score four times in the second half in a 4-0 win over DeSoto at Eagle Stadium.

The victory keeps REL (5-2, 17 points) firmly in third place in the District 11-5A standings with one game left to play. DeSoto remained winless in district.

Senior Tanner Tebbetts got REL on the board with a goal off a pass from Reed Pool. The Red Raiders doubled their lead on a second Tebbetts goal, this time on a corner from Robert Hawk. Giovanni Sosa made it 3-0 late in the game when he deflected a shot from Sergio Molina into the net. The fourth and final goal was delivered by Pool in the closing minutes off a pass from Case Carnes.

Lee closes out district play Tuesday at first-place Longview. The game is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Lobo Stadium.