By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
When Brownsville Veterans Memorial defeated Hanna 2-0 in District 32-6A girls soccer Tuesday, it didn’t clinch a playoff spot or anything.
Still, the win may come in pretty handy down the road for the Lady Chargers.
The Brownsville Veterans girls entered their match at Hanna tied for fourth place in 32-6A with the Lady Golden Eagles, each team with a 5-4 record and 15 points.
Defeating Hanna actually lifts the Lady Chargers into a third-place tie with Harlingen South, a 2-1 loser Tuesday against second-place Los Fresnos (8-2, 24 points).
Brownsville Veterans and South now are each 6-4 with 18 points, while Hanna (5-5, 15 points) drops to fifth place. Lopez (9-1, 26 points), a 3-0 winner against Rivera, is the district leader.
The top four teams in 32-6A advance to the playoffs. Four games remain in district play.
A pair of second-half goals provided Tuesday’s victory for Brownsville Veterans.
“The win tonight doesn’t mean much yet because we still have some very tough district games ahead of us in the second round,” Lady Chargers coach Luis Troncoso said. “But it definitely gives us the confidence and motivation to keep going forward.”
Things began turning in Brownsville Veterans’ favor with a little more than 27 minutes remaining when the ball was advanced close to the Hanna goal by the Natalia Torres.
The Hanna goalkeeper tried to clear it, but the ball wound up being deflected backward. With the goalkeeper and a defender caught out of position, Torres only had to dribble in a little ways and deposit the ball into an open net to give her team a 1-0 lead.
Blanca Capistran sealed the victory for the Lady Chargers when she fired a shot into the goal from 25-plus yards out on the left side with 9 1/2 minutes left.
“We’re very proud of our girls,” Troncoso said. “This was the type of game that had a playoff feeling to it, but we understand we still have the rest of the regular season in front of us. We’re going to continue working hard to get to our goal, which is the playoffs.”