By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
Cold, rainy weather conditions didn’t prevent Brownsville soccer teams from posting some successful results at tournaments during the opening weekend of the season.
The Rivera boys went 3-0 in The Woodlands Boys Kilt Tournament in Houston, thanks to a 3-2 win over Austin Lake Travis on Saturday. Scoring Rivera’s goals against Lake Travis were Ray Alvarez, Julian Espinoza and Isidro “Chelin” Martinez.
Previously at the three-day event, Rivera defeated Round Rock Westwood 3-0 and Georgetown 5-1.
“Actually, it was not really a tournament, but a showcase with three full games (for each team and no championship),” Rivera coach Salvador Garcia said. “It was good competition. We’re feeling that we are playing good, attractive soccer, but we still have a lot of things to improve before our district opening (Jan. 27).”
Playing at a different tournament in Houston over the weekend were the Hanna boys, who made it to one of the event’s championship matches Saturday.
Hanna’s first two games in the Houston event were victories over Houston Hightower (5-0) and Houston Bellaire (3-0) before the Golden Eagles suffered a 2-1 loss to Pasadena Dobie earlier Saturday. Hanna still qualified to play in a tournament championship match based on a points system, mainly due to the Eagles’ earlier shutout wins.
In their later game Saturday, the Eagles lost 2-1 to Alief Taylor.
Meanwhile, it appeared the Lopez Lobos finished second in the 42-team Mission Eagle Invitational. Pool-play games were played Thursday and Friday, but the rainy, cold weather brought a cancelation of Saturday’s games.
The tournament’s top teams were determined based on a points system using their results from the first two days. Lopez and La Joya Juarez-Lincoln each finished with 30 points, but the Huskies appeared to have a tiebreaker edge over the Lobos for the championship, giving Lopez second place. Sharyland High was third with 29 points and Edinburg Economedes was fourth with 24 points.
The Lobos went 6-0 in their pool-play games, including a 3-0 mark in matches that went to penalty kicks.
For the girls, Los Fresnos, Rivera and Porter all enjoyed strong showings at their respective tournaments.
The Lady Raiders played at the McAllen Showcase, which had its games canceled Saturday. Still, the Rivera girls emerged as unofficial champions as the only team to post a tournament-best 3-0 record.
During the tournament’s first two days, the Lady Raiders defeated Corpus Christi King 8-2, Sharyland High 3-1 and San Antonio Clark 3-2. Yesenia Ortiz led Rivera with nine goals in three games, while teammate Daniela Carrion had four.
At the Border Olympics tournament in Laredo, the Los Fresnos Lady Falcons reached Saturday’s semifinals. In pool play Thursday and Friday, the Lady Falcons defeated Harlingen South 2-1, PSJA North 7-0 and McAllen Rowe 3-1. On Saturday, the Lady Falcons defeated Laredo Alexander 4-0 in a quarterfinal before losing 1-0 to South in their semifinal.
South defeated Edinburg North 1-0 to win the tournament for the second consecutive year.
The Porter Cowgirls went 3-0-1 at a tournament at Brenham. They defeated Navasota 4-0, Little Cypress Mauriceville 1-0 and Lamar Consolidated 6-0, and they played to a scoreless tie with Manor.
Priscilla Cortinas led the Cowgirls with five goals in four games. Teammates Alexis Vega, Marcela Galvan and Angie Escandon each had two in the tournament.