By EDWARD SEVERN, Staff Writer
BROWNSVILLE — The Brownsville Porter Cowgirls completed their undefeated District 32-5A season, capping it off with a 1-0 win over the Brownsville Lopez Lady Lobos on Friday at Lopez.
“Bittersweet,” Porter coach Abraham Gracia said. “I was really happy that we were going to win, and then the incident at the end of the game brought me down. That is not what this program is about.”
The game was called off during the final minutes because of scuffles between the rivals.
“I always told the girls that there are four aspects to the game: technical, tactical, physical and mental,” Gracia said. “When you are technically and tactically better teams will be more physical, it could start getting mental, and that is what happened.”
Porter opened the scoring during the 11th minute with a goal from winger Liberty Garza. Striker Denisse Romero played in Garza behind the Lopez defense with a line-splitting pass, and Garza tucked it in.
“We did what we have been actually practicing: passing and moving,” Gracia said. “We had some more moments where we did that, but then we started getting back to old habits, and we just need to break old habits. That is the problem.”
Romero combined well with teammates early and often, routinely splitting the Lady Lobos’ lines with passes.
The stout Porter defense found itself in trouble to end the first half. Lopez pushed for the equalizer in the Cowgirls’ end but did not find the back of the net.
Appeals for penalties during 50-50 challenges in the box were not entertained by the referee. Lopez ended the first half the better side despite Porter controlling large portions of the half.
Romero almost doubled Porter’s advantage after she turned her defender in the box. Lopez keeper D’arrah Howard went down well to deny the striker.
“The season could have gone better,” Lopez coach Luis Macias said. “The girls fought hard all year, but it could have been better. Just could not put the ball away.”
Lopez captain and center back Kenia Quinones kept her team in the match with solid tackles. Quinones also passed the ball well out of the back, but the Lady Lobos did not create many opportunities.
“It got out of hand,” Macias said. “The ref let the game get out of hand, and instead of taking care of it in the first half it got out of hand.”