By ROY HESS | Staff Writer
LOS FRESNOS — The dense fog of Friday night gave way to sunny skies on Saturday afternoon as the Los Fresnos Lady Falcons triumphed 2-0 at home against the Harlingen High Lady Cardinals in District 32-6A soccer.
The match, originally scheduled for Friday, was postponed a day due to a thick fog. Along with sunny skies Saturday, there were some strong gusts of wind blowing from the south affecting play.
While it was an even match for the most part, the Lady Falcons were the ones capitalizing on a pair of first-half corner kicks taken from the left side during the 29th and 31st minutes to build a 2-0 advantage that wound up as the final score.
Alexa Gutierrez scored both goals, the first one on a close-range “kick/nudge-in” and the second one on a header, also from close range.
The win allows the Los Fresnos girls (4-1, 12 points) to stay close behind 32-6A leader Harlingen South (4-1, 13 points), while the Lady Cardinals now are tied for third place in district with Rivera as both are 3-2 with nine points apiece. Hanna (2-3, seven points) is in fifth place.
“I like our girls being prepared (for every 32-6A match),” Lady Falcons coach Patricia K. Hernandez said. “It was a battle today because we (both teams) wanted to take that second-place spot (in district).
“We played in the heat and the sun, but we got through it,” the Lady Falcons coach added. “The wind played a factor, but really, we knew what we had to do to take care of this game. We’ve seen Harlingen play before and we knew they were going to bring good competition today.”
The Lady Cardinals knew they missed a chance to solidify their playoff chances on Saturday, but despite the setback, they remain very much in contention for a spot in the postseason.
“In this game we kind of played scared and were just kicking the ball around and not really passing the way we should,” Lady Cardinals coach Debra Hernandez said. “We’ve been playing better than this, and today, we just didn’t show that we can play better.
“Los Fresnos had quite a few chances and we had some,” she added. “They were the ones who capitalized on their chances. It would have been nice to win today and move into second place, and now we’re tied for third. We’re not even halfway through district yet, so we know we can come back (and do better).”
District action continues for both teams at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday as the Lady Cardinals play host to Hanna at Boggus Stadium and Los Fresnos plays Rivera at Sams Memorial Stadium.
Roy Hess covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @HessRgehess