By MARK MOLINA | THE BROWNSVILLE HERALD
For the second straight season, the Rivera Lady Raiders soccer team was tasked with facing the District 31-6A champion to open the playoffs.
And once again, they prevailed.
Led by goals in the early part of each half and sharp passing, the Lady Raiders upended the Edinburg North Lady Cougars for 2-0 Class 6A bi-district win Thursday night at Sams Memorial Stadium.
“One of the things I always tell the girls is that it doesn’t matter who we’re up against — it’s playoffs,” Rivera head coach Peter Rodriguez said. “Everybody wants to join the party and everyone wants to win as much as we do, so we take it one game at a time, prepare and play as best as we can together.”
The Rivera girls defeated Edinburg Economedes last season in bi-district and proceeded to go three-deep in the postseason.
Awaiting the Lady Raiders in the area round this year will be McAllen Memorial, who defeated South San Antonio 2-1 in penalty kicks Wednesday night.
Rivera’s Brigitte Iglesias got things started in the third minute as she received the ball on the left side of the field and sent a kick sailing just over Edinburg North goalie Gabriela Cano for the 1-0 lead.
Iglesias stressed the importance of the early goal after the game.
“I received the ball and I told myself I needed to take it in because the first five minutes is very important,” Iglesias said. “I just touched it with my chest and kicked it in the sweet spot in the right corner and it went in. it was a very beautiful goal and a very beautiful game. I’m really proud of the team that I’m on. We played a very good game. We worked from the bottom, came to the top and had so many good runs and plays.”
The Lady Raiders controlled the ball during their advances and made life tough for the Lady Cougars, whose offensive opportunities were few and far between.
Lady Cougar head coach Daniel Valdez said his team was simply a step too slow Thursday night for the Lady Raiders’ aggressive play.
“Rivera beat us to the ball tonight and they were the better team,” he said. “They made better passes, took a great shot and their passing is what beat us I think. We took some shots, but they just didn’t go in. They beat us to more about 60 percent of the balls.”
Edinburg North had a few good looks in the first half, the first coming when Nataly Becerra put a free kick on point, only to Rivera goal keeper Daisy Cano came up with the save during the ninth minute.
Cano also came up with another save minutes later after an Edinburg North corner kick attempt.
Lady Cougar Cecilia Oros got a good look just inside the box in the 26th minute, but the ball sailed just over the crossbar.
Rivera extended its lead in the 51st minute when a falling Alyssa Ayala fired a pass near the front of the goal to a trailing Claudia Flores Gonzalez, who fired the ball into the back of the net to make it 2-0.
“We had to play our game and do the passes,” Rodriguez said. “I told the girls that the first 15 minutes are the most important of each half. We scored both goals in the first 10 minutes of each half, so that helped set the momentum. We knew (Edinburg North) it would be a tough team.
“Edinburg North is obviously the district champions for a reason, but in our district, we have tough teams and it was a pretty difficult battle until the end.”
For the Lady Cougars, they must regroup heading into the offseason, but they do so knowing their window for a deep playoff run is not closed.
“It always comes to an end sooner or later,” Valdez said. “The good thing about it is that we have everyone coming back except for two girls. We have some work to do and we’re going to be back. Hopefully next year is our year.”