FREDDY GONZALEZ | Staff Writer
SAN BENITO — Injuries weighed heavily on Harlingen South head coach Omar Pedroza’s mind Friday night.
With a playoff birth already secured, every tackle and every challenge was Pedroza’s biggest worry. Fortunately for him, the Lady Hawks defeated San Benito 5-1 with no serious injuries in sight.
“We’re in the playoffs and I’m happy, whether we move from third to second or stay in fourth it’s all the same. Our district is so tough that I’m happy right now especially with all the people hurt,” said Pedroza. “We played good tonight especially since we had some young players in there and they all did a really good job tonight.
“We play Harlingen on Tuesday and it’s good to know that it’s not a game you have to win, so we can sit out some of the starters and let them rest.”
With 12 minutes remaining in the first half, Stephanie Torres opened the scoring for the Lady Hawks. Torres fired a shot from the edge of the box that slipped through San Benito goalkeeper Maria Christensen’s hands and fell in.
Eight minutes later, senior Amber Ray was able to capitalize on another error by the Lady Greyhounds when the head official pointed directly at the spot after an apparent hand ball in the box.
After the break, San Benito’s Christensen came up with a massive save after South’s Klarisa Rodriguez slipped past the defensive back four and charged toward goal. Christensen was able to lunge at the ball and prevent another goal.
However, Rodiguez would not be denied her goal as nine minutes later she was able to get behind a cross and poke it in from close range, increasing the Lady Hawks’ lead to 3-0
The night went from bad to worse for the Greyhounds as Gabby Velazquez and Bianca Martinez scored two more goals for Harlingen South.
The lone bright spot for San Benito was an Ismar Davila goal. Down 4-0 with eight minutes left in the match, Davila curled a shot to the upper corner of the net beating the South ’keeper for the Lady Greyhounds’ only score.