By ROY HESS
Staff Writer
The first day of soccer practice is always an important event in the Rio Grande Valley, especially for Brownsville.
UIL boys and girls teams across the Valley, and actually, throughout the state, welcomed the opening day of workouts Monday. It marked the beginning of the 2019 season.
Practice continues through Dec. 27, when teams start having scrimmages. The regular season opens Jan. 3.
There was enthusiasm for the new season on the practice field Monday for countless South Texas soccer teams, including at Brownsville Veterans Memorial.
The Chargers, 27-3-3 last season, have advanced to the Class 5A regional final the past two years. Nine starters are back. With such an experienced group returning, their goal is to take the next step.
“So, it’s finally soccer season,” said Juan Amieva, a senior defensive midfielder and team captain for the Chargers. “We’re very excited because last year we went very far (in the playoffs), but we didn’t achieve what we had in mind to do (which was win one more game and go to state).
“We’re excited to start a new season today, and hopefully make it (to where we want to go) in the long run,” Amieva added. “As far as the individuals we have coming back this year that are stronger than before, we’re very united. We like to have fun, but we know when to be serious at game time. We’re happy soccer season is here, and we also know we have goals to meet.”
Added teammate Mark Boswell, a junior midfielder/forward, “It feels great (to have the season arrive). I think everyone out here is excited. We just can’t wait to get the season started. We feel we can accomplish not only the same thing that we’ve done already the past two years, which has been the most this school has done, but we feel we can do a lot more and get to state. That’s our goal.”
Besides Amieva and Boswell, the other starters back for the Chargers include midfielders Albert Maradiaga, Diego “Kat” Bernal, Jose Balboa and Orlando Sanchez, along with defenders Luis Capistran and Frankie Moreno Jr., plus goalkeeper Moises Navarro.
There were more than 100 players reporting for Monday’s workouts at Brownsville Veterans, including a group of approximately 40 freshmen. Conditioning was a major part of the first day’s practice, and it included running up a steep dirt mound created by recent construction on campus to install an artificial turf field at the school’s football/soccer/track stadium.
“We have such a great group of players,” said Chargers coach Alberto Vasquez, whose team was the runner-up last season in District 32-5A before advancing five rounds in the playoffs for the second straight season. “They work hard, and they’re ambitious. They know what they want, and they’re willing to work hard for it.
“We feel we’re ready to take the next step,” Vasquez added. “Our goal has always been to make it to state and win it all. Being so close to making it to the state tournament (the last two years), it’s something we really want this season. Hopefully it will be something that happens for us this time.”
One of the local teams getting an early start to the season was Hanna. The Golden Eagles held “Midnight Madness” workouts on their own recently installed on-campus artificial turf field.
“It was great,” Hanna coach Reyes Prado said of the 12:01 a.m. Monday practice. “We had 30 players, and it was by invitation only. Those are the ones that are trying out for varsity.”
Like all the other teams, Harlingen’s squads opened practice Monday with aspirations to build upon the past season’s successes.
Harlingen High’s boys returned to the playoffs for the first time in 10 years under first-year coach Johnny Guillen, who is a 2006 Harlingen High graduate and holds the career boys scoring record for the Cardinals with 88 goals.
“The first day was awesome,” Guillen said. “This program is growing. We had 97 players in practice today, so that was great.
“Nine of our 11 starters are back along with 19 players overall from the team of last season,” Guillen added. “The cream of the crop from last season’s team is back.
“I tell our players we need to finish strong. We not only want to make the playoffs, we want to make a deep run. I’m telling the guys to come to practice and work hard (to reach our goals).”
Guillen said among his all-district players returning from last season are midfielder Jesus Berlanga, defender/midfielder Jacob Garza and forward Luis Garcia.
The Lady Cardinals tied Harlingen South for second place in District 32-6A last season and advanced two rounds in the playoffs under second-year coach Debra Hernandez.
While the Lady Hawks continued their long-held streak of playoff appearances under coach Omar Pedroza, the South boys, coached by Julian Robles, missed out on the postseason after advancing in 2017.
The Hawks’ goal is to make it back to the postseason. They missed out on the playoffs last season after advancing the two previous years.
“We feel pretty good about our prospects,” Hawks coach Julian Robles said. “We had about 80 players out for practice today, so that was good. As long as we put in the work I feel we’ll do well. There’s no substitute for hard work.
“There was only one returning starter (for us) last season, and this time we have 10,” Robles added. “Our main players right now are forward Jose Lerma, defender Angel Ortega and midfielder Eric Lopez.
“We’ve got 10 seniors and a whole bunch of underclassmen, so we’re still kind of a young team.”
Although Brownsville didn’t send a team to the state tournament in Georgetown last season for the first time since 2012, it was still a successful showing for the Valley. Three teams again advanced to state. They were the Valley View boys, Progreso boys and McAllen High girls. It marked the first time since UIL girls soccer came to the Valley in 1997 that a Valley girls squad made it all the way to Georgetown.
The McHi girls went 26-4-1 and won District 30-6A one season ago. At state, they lost 2-0 in the semifinals to eventual 6A champion Houston Memorial.
It was also an eventful year for the Rivera Lady Raiders, who advanced to the Region IV-6A Tournament for the first time. The Lopez and Hanna girls are the only other female squads from Brownsville to achieve such a feat.
Roy Hess covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @HessRgehess.