By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
Thanks in large part to strong defensive play, the Brownsville Veterans Memorial Chargers are thriving in District 32-6A soccer.
The Chargers, winners of seven matches in a row, share the district lead with the Lopez Lobos with four games remaining on the 32-6A schedule. Each team is 8-2 with 25 points.
Brownsville Veterans plays at home against San Benito (2-8, six points) at 5:30 p.m. Friday. The game will be followed by the Lady Chargers (6-4, 18 points) taking on the Lady Greyhounds (3-7, eight points) at 7:30 p.m.
The Brownsville Veterans boys have allowed only four goals in 10 district matches.
Chargers coach Alberto Vasquez said a solid effort on the defensive end has helped set up what his team is achieving on the offensive side.
“Whenever your defense is playing the way these guys are playing, it gives your midfield and forwards just so much confidence,” Vasquez said. “The midfielders and forwards understand that those guys back there are taking care of their responsibilities. They know their teammates behind them are going to be solid.
“The defense is just giving us a lot of confidence,” he added. “We struggled a lot last year giving up goals. We struggled scoring goals as well. We just gave up way too many goals last season. It’s always nice to have a solid defense. We’re not giving up that many goals now, and on offense, we’ve been doing pretty good, too.”
The Chargers, coming off Tuesday’s 2-1 win at third-place Hanna (7-3, 19 points), are enjoying success with a group effort on defense.
It’s a defense composed of Jesus Arena and Marco Trevino as central defenders, and Humberto Aguillon and Frankie Moreno on the defensive wings. Estuardo Teran is the defensive midfielder and Garret Wild is the goalkeeper.
Abel Martinez is an injured member of the defense who hopes to return in two or three weeks.
Members of the defense say it means a lot to be such key contributors to the team’s winning streak, particularly Moreno, a freshman.
“It feels very good to have this opportunity (to be starting) on the varsity since it’s my first year of high school,” Moreno said. “I thank my parents and all my teammates for helping me. I just want to see us continue forward (and keep winning).”
Arena, a junior, also appreciates his chance to contribute on defense and elsewhere. He scored the winning goal off a corner-kick play against Hanna.
“It’s great to play with these guys as my teammates game by game,” Arenas said. “We’re training and playing hard to win district. That’s our goal and our dream.”
Providing senior leadership for the Chargers are Aguillon and Teran.
“Knowing that we’ve only conceded four goals in the entire district (schedule), I’m very thankful for having my teammates around me,” said Aguillon, a three-year starter. “We’re all working together as one to not let goals go into our net and we all work together to score goals into the opponent’s net.
“I believe that we’re doing well because we’ve been working together like a family,” he added. “We’ve been together like three or four years now. This team has a lot of potential. We see our mistakes and we make sure we correct them.”
Added Teran, a fellow senior and also a three-year starter, “This year is very special to us. We all know that, and that’s why we’re trying our best. We’ve been together for about three years and we’ve been working harder and harder each year. The communication we have on the field between one another is very important. That’s been the key to protecting our goal and not letting the ball pass us.
“We’re going for it all, and we know we can do it.”
Roy Hess covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @HessRgehess