By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
They’re relatively young, they’re hungry and they’re Brownsville ISD girls soccer tournament champions.
That perhaps best describes the Los Fresnos Lady Falcons, who won nine matches in three days to become winners of the three-day, 27-team BISD event at Brownsville Sports Park.
The Lady Falcons (13-1), with a lineup that includes six seniors, two juniors and the rest underclassmen, put an exclamation point on their participation in the annual girls tournament with a 6-0 triumph over Edinburg Economedes in the Gold Division final Saturday. Los Fresnos built a 2-0 first-half lead before pulling away with four goals during the second half.
Tanya Prazelini, a sophomore forward, tallied three of Los Fresnos’ goals during the championship match and was named tournament MVP.
“I feel this (weekend’s showing) is a comeback for all of the team after losing last week (in the semifinals of the Border Olympics tournament in Laredo),” Prazelini said. “We’ve got amazing players on this team, and with this group, it’s possible to get District (32-6A). Since we lost in Laredo, this helps us a lot with our confidence. (We were telling ourselves) ‘We’re back and let’s do this.’ It’s just real nice (to win the tournament).”
The Lady Falcons finished as the No. 1 team in the Rio Grande Valley two seasons ago before going through somewhat of a rebuilding year in 2014 and barely missing the playoffs. They want everyone to know they expect to contend for the 32-6A title and make some noise in the postseason in 2015.
“We’re ecstatic for our girls, they worked extremely hard this weekend,” Lady Falcons coach Marissa Wood said. “The weather was brutal the first day (Thursday), so it was really good to have some sunshine on the final day to shine on us and send us home with a championship.
“This (tournament win) just shows how much work these girls have put in and how comfortable they feel right now,” Wood added. “We really feel as coaches that these girls are connecting on the field, and that they trust us and they trust each other. That’s something that really, really helps to win championship games (like this) when you know your players trust you. There’s just a lot of good kids and a lot of love on this team.”
Barely 10 minutes into the title match, Clarissa “Claire” Castañeda put the Lady Falcons ahead for good by sending a long, high direct kick into the net from more than 30 yards out for a 1-0 lead. Then, with about 12 minutes remaining in the 30-minute opening half, it became 2-0 when Prazelini received a centering pass from the right side and sent what amounted to a chip shot into the goal as she was situated near the right post.
From that point on, the Lady Falcons appeared to be well on their way to victory.
A pair of back-to-back goals by Pauline Garcia and Prazelini within a two-minute span early in the second half made it 4-0. With seven minutes left, Prazelini put in her third goal for a 5-0 lead. It came from close range on the rebound after a shot by Castañeda glanced off the Lady Jaguars goalkeeper.
Gabby Moya sealed the 6-0 victory as her shot from about 10 yards out found the net with four minutes to go.
After going 6-0 during pool play Thursday and Friday, the Lady Falcons defeated Edinburg North 1-0 on penalty kicks in the Gold Division quarterfinals and prevailed over McAllen Memorial 2-1 in the semifinals to gain their berth in the final against Economedes. The Lady Jaguars defeated Brownsville Veterans Memorial 2-0 and Hanna 2-1 on penalty kicks to reach the final.
McAllen High edged La Joya Palmview 1-0 on penalty kicks in the Silver Division final, and Lopez prevailed over Edinburg High 1-0 on penalty kicks in the Bronze Division title match.
Aside from Los Fresnos, the other five teams in Saturday’s three division finals all came from the same pool-play group.
Roy Hess covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @HessRgehess.
Tournament Scores
Friday, Jan. 16
Quarterfinals
Gold Bracket
Brownsville Hanna 1, Brownsville Rivera 0
McAllen Memorial 3, Brownsville Porter 1
Los Fresnos 1, Edinburg North 0, PKs
Edinburg Economedes 2, Brownsville Veterans Memorial 0
Silver Bracket
McAllen High 2, La Joya High 0
La Joya Juarez-Lincoln 2, Mission High 1
La Joya Palmview 1, La Salle 0
Laredo United South 3, Laredo LBJ 0
Bronze Bracket
Edinburg High 2, Rio Hondo 1, PKs
La Feria 1, PSJA High 0
Brownsville Lopez 1, PSJA North 0
PSJA Memorial 3, Valley View 2, PKs
Saturday, Jan. 17
Semifinals
Edinburg Economedes 2, Brownsville Hanna 1, PKs
Los Fresnos 2, McAllen Memorial 1
Championship
Los Fresnos 6, Edinburg Economedes 0
Tournament MVP: Tanya Prazelini, Los Fresnos
Silver Bracket
Semifinals
McAllen High 3, La Joya Juarez-Lincoln 0
La Joya Palmview 1, Laredo United South 0
Bracket Championship
McAllen High 1, La Joya Palmview 0, PKs
Bronze Bracket
Semifinals
Edinburg High 2, La Feria 1, PKs
Brownsville Lopez 1, PSJA Memorial 0, PKs
Bracket Championship
Brownsville Lopez 1, Edinburg High 0, PKs