By ROY HESS | Staff Writer
For much of the match, it looked like Porter’s night.
The Cowboys played their hearts out, built a 1-0 lead, and for the most part, did enough to win.
But the Brownsville Veterans Memorial Chargers are a pretty determined group, and they want to maintain their lead in the District 32-5A boys soccer race.
On a cool Friday night at Porter with temperatures in the upper 40s, the Chargers rallied from a 1-0 first-half deficit to defeat the Cowboys 2-1.
Brownsville Veterans’ Mark Boswell scored the winning goal from the right side on an assist by Albert Maradiaga with a little more than 13 minutes remaining to keep the Chargers unbeaten in district at 5-0 with 15 points.
It doesn’t get any easier as the Chargers’ next challenge comes Tuesday at Lopez.
“Nothing’s easy around here (in Brownsville soccer),” said Boswell, a junior forward/midfielder.
That was perhaps the best possible description of the game from a player who always seems to be in the right place at the right time when the Chargers need him most.
Alberto Vasquez, Boswell’s coach, agreed.
“This is such a difficult district with a lot of really good teams, great players and great coaches, so it’s always one of those things where we need to show up and be ready to play every game or we won’t get the result we’re looking for,” Vasquez said. “I don’t know if the type of game we had on Tuesday (when we beat Valley View 2-1) affected us a little bit, but we had a slow start tonight. Eventually, our players were able to respond. We got two scores to put the game away.”
Regarding the game-winning goal, which came on a medium-range shot from the right side, Vasquez said, “Mark didn’t hesitate too much in taking that shot that he put in. I think we were hesitating a little too much (with our shots) throughout the game. I don’t know what we were waiting on, but we needed to be a little bit quicker with some more ball movement. Eventually, things paid off for us at the end.”
Porter (2-3, seven points) played a spirited game with purposeful passing from the start and added to its confidence when Oscar Garcia drilled a crossing shot into the net from the left side with only two and a half minutes to go before intermission.
“We knew we were going to have our hands full with Veterans,” said Porter coach Jose Espitia, whose team next plays Tuesday at Edcouch-Elsa. “We wanted to go out there and test ourselves (against the Chargers) to see what we can do as a potential playoff team, and I’m happy with my guys. I think our players responded well tonight. They played a good game.
“We had several chances in the first half that we could have taken advantage of (and maybe put the game away), but it’s just a few little details that we need to fix so we can be a little more focused on the game (and avoid mistakes),” he added. “Maybe it was a little inexperience or inability to manage the game on our part (that led to Brownsville Veterans’ scores), but I’m still happy with my players. I think they played their hearts out. They played a good game, and hopefully, we keep building up and going from here.”
The Cowboys’ 1-0 advantage lasted until Maradiaga was awarded a penalty kick following a tripping foul on Porter barely 13 minutes into the second half.
Maradiaga converted the PK, which set the stage for Boswell to come through with his game-winning goal in the late stages of the match.
“It’s very important that we stay on top of the district race,” Boswell said. “Tonight, we had a slow start, and we just needed to keep on pushing forward. Hopefully, things continue going well for us. We’re not going to let down.”
Meanwhile, it may have taken some extra time, but the night ended with a win for Porter.
After 100 minutes of regulation and overtime play, the Cowgirls defeated the Lady Chargers in penalty kicks in the nightcap of the 32-5A doubleheader.
At the end of regulation, the score was 1-1. It stayed that way through 20 minutes of OT. In the PKs, the Cowgirls prevailed 3-2, thanks to three blocks by their goalkeeper.
The win allowed the Cowgirls to maintain their 32-5A lead with a 5-0 record (13 points). The Lady Chargers slipped to 2-3 (seven points).
The Cowgirls were coming off Tuesday’s win on the road in PKs against the Lopez Lady Lobos.