BY KEVIN LU
The Sharyland High boys soAccer team held off a short-handed Edinburg Vela squad for a 1-0 win on Friday in Edinburg to open District 31-5A play.
The lone goal came in 18th minute following Sebastian Luna’s foul on the Rattlers’ Brandon Longoria in the penalty area. Longoria slotted the penalty kick into the bottom left corner of the net for the 1-0 lead.
“We’re playing a very good team,” Rattlers coach Rev Hernandez said. “1-0, it could’ve been anybody’s game.”
Sharyland had another golden opportunity later in the first half when Longoria fed a ball into the box for Edson Silva with the Vela keeper approaching. Silva slid the ball past the keeper, but it rolled just right of the net.
The second half saw Sharyland continue to own possession, but it was the SaberCats who had the most opportunities. Vela was missing four starters for Friday’s game – two to injuries, two for red card suspensions from the previous game – and moved to a counterattacking scheme for their scoring chances.
The SaberCats’ Tristan Flores kicked the ball wide left from about 15 yards out as the second half began. In the 53rd minute, Misael Garza’s free kick was punched away by Rattlers keeper Marco Alanis. A minute after that, Flores’ header went wide left of the goal.
The SaberCats were in an even deeper hole when Javier Villasana earned his second yellow card of the game with 15 minutes left. It earned him a red card and had his squad playing 10 on 11 for the rest of the game.
“I think we looked better,” Vela coach Americo Cortez said of his team after Villasana left the game. “I don’t know, the kids, maybe they realized that they had to go.”
A minute after Villasana was sent off, Vela’s best chance to get on the board appeared. Carlos Aparicio got behind his defender for a ball as Alanis charged hard toward him well away from the net. Aparicio skipped the ball over him, in line for the goal, but it bounced just over the crossbar.
Aparicio laid still on the ground in disbelief for several moments after the play.
“It’s 1-0, we should’ve tied it on a few plays that we had,” Cortez said. “I’m happy for my team. Not happy for the loss. I’m happy for the way we played.”