By ROY HESS | The Brownsville Herald
Brownsville Veterans Memorial would not be denied in Tuesday’s showdown of undefeated co-leaders in the District 32-5A boys soccer race.
Although the Chargers trailed 3-1 against the Lopez Lobos midway through the second half during regulation, they came back to send the match to overtime tied 3-3 and then on to penalty kicks, where they won 4-3 to capture an impressive victory over the team that prevented them from going to state last season.
Prior to Tuesday night at Lopez, the last time the Lobos and Chargers met was in the Region IV-5A final last April in Corpus Christi, where Lopez prevailed 1-0 and kept the Chargers from making their first trip to the UIL state tournament in Georgetown.
On Tuesday, it was the determined Chargers’ turn to win.
“To do this against a team like Lopez on their home field when all the momentum was going their way (is really remarkable),” said Chargers coach Alberto Vasquez, whose team is now 4-0 in 32-5A with 11 points. “I told our players before the game started that I knew we could beat them.
“(Still) I knew it was going to be a very tough game,” he added. “Even though they were undefeated in district and we were undefeated, and it was just the fourth (32-5A) game of the season, there was a lot of emotion behind it. Our guys played (with determination) the whole game. They got down a little bit when we fell behind 2-0 (in the first half) just as any group of athletes would, but I saw in them (the desire to win), and I knew we could fight back.
“Yes, I knew we could do it and they proved me right.”
Goals by Sebastian Benavides and Jose “Chevy” Echevarria gave Lopez a 2-0 first-half advantage before Alberto Maradiaga tallied a goal for the Chargers just before intermission to make it 2-1 at the break.
It didn’t look good at all for the Chargers when Echevarria’s goal from about 20 yards out on the left side midway through the second half put the Lobos, now 3-1 with 10 points, in front 3-1.
With time ticking away in regulation, the Chargers’ Orlando Sanchez scored twice within a two-minute span during the 70th and 72nd minutes to create an improbable 3-3 deadlock.
After a scoreless overtime, the two teams went to PKs with the Chargers going first.
Thanks to the Brownsville Veterans goalkeeper, who blocked two of Lopez’s five penalty tries, the Chargers prevailed 4-3 on successful PKs by Sanchez, Joe Balboa, Jose Zamora and Maradiaga, who had the game-winner.
“It feels great going up there (taking the PK) with courage and winning the game,” Maradiaga said. “It feels amazing.”
Alan Reyes, Baltazar Cerda and Echevarria were the Lobos making good on their PK attempts.
Meanwhile, in the first game of Tuesday’s 32-5A doubleheader at Lopez, the Brownsville Veterans girls came away with a 3-1 victory over the Lady Lobos.
Staying in the hunt for the state playoffs in 32-5A is what the Lady Chargers are focused upon at the moment.
They came into Tuesday’s district match with a 1-2 record and three points, so a 3-1 victory over the Lady Lobos was a welcomed turn of events.
The Lady Chargers were coming off last Friday’s 2-1 district loss to Edcouch-Elsa.
Even though it’s still early in the 32-5A race, the Brownsville Veterans girls felt they couldn’t afford to suffer a third setback in district.
“We knew we had to come back and win after our last game, where we thought we should have won,” said Lady Chargers coach Luis Troncoso, whose girls improved to 2-2 in 32-5A with six points. “We had opportunities to win that one (against E-E), but we didn’t.
“Sometimes you can put the ball in and sometimes you can’t, and that’s just how the game of soccer is,” Troncoso added. “It feels good to come over here and win. Anytime you beat Lopez, it’s a good win.”
The Lady Lobos slipped to 1-3 with three points.
Melissa Medina converted a penalty kick for Brownsville Veterans during the 28th minute to give the Lady Chargers a 1-0 advantage at halftime.
Brownsville Veterans’ Samantha Bodden scored the next two goals to make it 3-0 for the Lady Chargers.
During the 50th minute, Bodden dribbled in, hesitated with her shot for just a moment to get a defender and the goalkeeper to overplay her shot attempt and then fired the ball the opposite direction into the net from about eight yards away.
Bodden scored from the left side during the 67th minute for a 3-0 edge for the Lady Chargers.
A handball call in the penalty area on Brownsville Veterans with eight minutes left enabled Lopez’s Myrka Garcia to convert the ensuing penalty kick to account for the final score of 3-1.