BROWNSVILLE — La Joya Juarez-Lincoln’s Ailyn Rocha had time to pick her spot in the box and she did, firing a shot hard to the keeper’s right.
The shot hit its mark in the corner. It was the only goal of a 1-0 win for the Huskies against a familiar foe, the Brownsville Hanna Eagles, during the BISD girls soccer tournament Thursday at Brownsville Hanna High School.
Brownsville Hanna and La Joya Juarez-Lincoln met in the final of the BISD tournament last season. The Huskies came out on top 2-0 in 2022 and also beat the Eagles 5-0 in a bi-district playoff meeting in 2022.
The Huskies, now in District 30-5A, saw out the match comfortably after scoring the goal during the 30th minute. The BISD tournament games are only 40 minutes, two 20-minutes halves, half of the time of a normal match.
After Hanna’s goalkeeper pulled off a double save, the keeper either handled the ball twice after making the second save, or wasted too much time, resulting in a foul and an indirect free-kick opportunity for the Huskies.
| La Joya Juarez-Lincoln’s Ailyn Rocha (24) poses for a picture after scoring the only goal in a 1-0 win over Brownsville Hanna at the BISD tournament at Brownsville Hanna High School. Edward Severn |
The Eagles knew they had to close down Rocha because a shot cannot be hit from the dead ball spot on an indirect free-kick. When Rocha received the ball, the Eagles did so but left the far post gaping.
Rocha took her time after her first touch, then unleashed a strong cross-body shot on her right foot for the goal.
“I am really proud of myself,” Rocha said.
Huskies head coach Arnoldo Cardenas was pleased with the win to start the tournament from his young team.
“Good attitude,” Cardenas said. “The girls ran the whole game. They fought for every single ball.”
Despite the loss, Hanna head coach Eliseo Guzman was optimistic about how his team performed against a strong side that beat his team twice in big matches the season prior.
The attempt at a smash and grab or picking up a result went away with the foul in the box. The foul was unfortunate, but not an excuse, Guzman said.
“We planned it like that,” Guzman said. “We just were not expecting that foul. We planned to play against a tough team, and we tried to hold them.”
The Eagles graduated 65 goals from Ana Barragan, but even without her goals, they had a couple of moments early where they could have picked up a goal. Brownsville Hanna is still figuring out things in attack, but defensively it looked solid with sophomore Linette Esquivel leading the back line.
| Brownsville Hanna’s Linette Esquivel (12) poses for a picture after a 1-0 loss to La Joya Juarez-Lincoln at the BISD tournament at Brownsville Hanna High School. Edward Severn |
Esquivel hardly put a foot wrong in the match and is likely to be a key player for the Eagles in 2023.
“I could have done better,” Esquivel said. “Overall, the team performed better than we have against other teams, way better. I am proud of the team and how we are growing.”
Tournament play resumes at 10 a.m. today at Rivera, Lopez, Porter, Pace, Veterans and Hanna High Schools, as well as at Sams Memorial Stadium.
CHECK OUT SCORES FROM THURSDAY AND FRIDAY’S SCHEDULE BY CLICKING THE LINK BELOW