By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
After coming so close a year ago, the St. Joseph Academy Bloodhounds are now champions of the Progreso Soccer Tournament.
The Bloodhounds lost in the final of the 2016 event to host school Progreso on penalty kicks 1-0 (5-4).
This time, SJA breezed through the three-day tournament with a 6-0 record and defeated La Feria 2-0 in Saturday’s title match.
For not having a regular goalkeeper available at the moment, the Bloodhounds did well by not allowing a single goal in any of their six tournament matches.
Having pretty much the entire team back together helped a lot as well, SJA coach Juan de Dios Garcia said.
“We have been struggling because of injuries and other factors that have caused some players to be missing,” Garcia said. “We had practically our whole team together (for the tournament), except the goalkeeper, and our players showed what they can do. These guys are a different team when they’re (all) together.”
Scoring goals for the Bloodhounds in the final against La Feria were Manuel Ravize and Miguel Guerra. The halftime score was 1-0.
Earlier Saturday, the Bloodhounds defeated Progreso 4-0 in the tournament semifinals. All of SJA’s goals came in the opening half against the Red Ants and were scored by Ravize, Guerra, Kai Money and Jose Kauachi.
“I’m happy for these guys,” Garcia said. “It has not been easy for them. The process (of transitioning to me as the new coach) has not been easy. With (only) four starters back, there are a lot of new players. Everybody has to understand that it’s a different team (than the one that went to the TAPPS state semifinals the past two years). But these guys are coming along. They’re improving and I’m glad to have them back together.
“We’re getting ready for the second round of our (TAPPS) district,” he added.
SJA opened the tournament on Thursday with wins against Port Isabel (6-0) and Grulla (4-0). On Friday, the Bloodhounds defeated Monte Alto (4-0) and Brownsville IDEA Frontier (4-0).
Pablo Zolezzi, normally a midfielder, played goalkeeper for SJA the first two days of the tournament, Garcia said. Zolezzi had a prior commitment on Saturday and wasn’t available to play, so Alex Cuadra filled in at goalkeeper for the Bloodhounds against Progreso and La Feria.
“They did a good job,” Garcia said. “Different ones have volunteered to help out the team by playing goalkeeper.”
The Bloodhounds next play host to Port Isabel on Tuesday at Canales Field.