NATHANIEL MATA | STAFF WRITER
SAN ANTONIO — The Brownsville Rivera Raiders did everything but put the ball in the net during the first half of their regional semifinal matchup against San Antonio Lee. Rivera couldn’t turn possession into goals often enough, falling 2-1 on Friday at Blossom Athletic Center.
Rivera’s lone goal of the match came on a curling, beautifully placed shot by senior Isaac Cedillo.
The Raiders had offensive possession, but their dangerous scoring chances were kept to a minimum over the course of the tightly contested match.
“We’ve got to give them credit. We didn’t play our game, but it was because of them,” Rivera coach Salvador Garcia said. “They put a lot of pressure on us. We knew that being a young group, we had a chance of them getting intimidated by the crowd, by the size and the speed of Lee. In the second half, we settled down a little bit more. They put two in, we put in one. It wasn’t enough.”
About seven minutes into the contest, a Rivera long ball looked to be a golden chance at a lead. To the displeasure of Rivera’s team and traveling fans, the play was deemed offside.
Instead, the Raiders conceded a goal to Wilmar Aguilar in the last five minutes of the half.
The Lee Volunteers were an opportunistic group, using every change in possession as a chance to run hard at the Raiders.
Aguilar was wide open when he received a pass from distance. Even after he fumbled the ball and two Rivera defenders converged on him, he kicked home a well-placed shot past keeper Jorge Cordova.
Following the goal, Rivera had a chance to set up its offense on a free kick just outside of the box. Kevin Zarrazagas took the chance straight on goal, but Lee keeper Canyon Sembera handled the shot with ease.
The winning goal came with 32:06 remaining and was created by the speed of Lee’s Aguilar. He was tripped in the box by Jorge Morales, and Lee retook the lead via the foot of Alberto Mendoza.
Rivera had chances at an equalizer in the game’s later stages, but Sembera was composed, even as Alex Mendez diced through a crowd for a shot in the last eight minutes.
Garcia’s words to his team after the game were focused on life and the reality of the game at an elite level.
“I told them the fact that whenever we go on the field, we know that two things are going happen. You’re going to win, or you’re going to lose,’” Garcia said. “We’re blessed that most of the time, we win. But now that it counted the most, we didn’t. Life moves on.”
Lee coach David Rogers said he knew coming into the game that his team would have to counter to be successful. The Volunteers executed that plan.
“They had a great attack, and just looking at them, I knew that their top six or seven were very, very fast,” Rogers said. “We worked trying to handle their pressure all week. They had a phenomenal attack — very dangerous. We felt like we needed to win the ball, possess, and then counterattack.”