GREG LUCA | STAFF WRITER
ELSA — When Edcouch-Elsa’s Cece Marin placed the ball on the line before her potentially game-sealing penalty against Donna North, she already knew where she wanted to go with the shot.
She thought about changing her target as she stepped back to line up the kick, but with a chance to score the first ever win for E-E against rival Donna North, she had to go to her regular favorite spot.
Marin punched the final shot into the left side of the net, turned to her teammates and took a bow, having successfully lifted the Lady Yellowjackets to a 2-1 (4-3 in penalties) win on Tuesday at Benny Layton Sr. Memorial Stadium.
“It’s my senior year, and beating this team just made it,” Marin said. “I knew the game was on my shoulders. It was up to me whether we would win or lose, and the bow just felt like, ‘That was it.’”
A defender for the Lady Yellowjackets, Marin is rarely called on to take penalties. But on Tuesday, E-E assistant coach Alector Cardenas asked head coach Juan Romero to make the switch.
After a strong game on the defensive end slowing down Donna North’s typically powerful attack, Marin was rewarded with the opportunity.
“Cece was like, ‘I’m a senior, I have to take this one,’” Romero said. “She stepped up to it. It was just perfect, the way it ended with her being the hero, after the kind of game she gave us.”
The win for Edcouch-Elsa leaves both teams 2-1 in what will likely be another tight District 32-5A race.
Donna North took the crown last season with 38 points, while PSJA Southwest and Edcouch-Elsa tied for second at 28.
The Lady Yellowjackets entered the night 0-4 all-time against the Lady Chiefs, but an E-E group with seven senior starters is hopeful this will be its year to make a run at the league title.
“Since most of our team is seniors, I feel that this is our final hurrah,” Marin said. “This is going to be the year we go into the playoffs pretty deep. I want to go as far as we can.”
For the first 68 minutes of Tuesday’s game, Edcouch-Elsa had chance after chance but came up empty.
Romero said the team put most of its focus on locking down each zone to strangle Donna North’s attack, which bogged down play and kept either team from getting great shots at the net. Still, by his count theLady Yellowjackets had 11 against the Lady Chiefs’ 3 in the first half and continued to apply pressure in the second.
“It was frustrating, because we’re there, right at the goal, and we can’t score,” junior Genesis Martinez said.
Martinez ended that frustration with 11:52 to play, sending home a free kick from about 27 yards out.
She and teammate Leslie Alvarado both lined up to take the kick, and the defense seemed to freeze as each faked forward as if to shoot. When Romero called out for Martinez from the sideline, she sent it into the back of the net.
“That was, I think, one of my best shots,” Martinez said. “I just grabbed the ball and I was like, this is going to be a goal. I had my mind on the goal.”
The score seemed to light a fire under Donna North, which began attacking with more ferocity the rest of the way. With just less than six minutes to play, Edcouch-Elsa keeper Ali Reyes lunged back and fully extended her right hand, tipping away a looping ball just as it was about to cross the goal line.
Donna North finally found it’s breakthrough with 4:13 to play, tying the game when Elizabeth Reyes hit a shot from 20 yards out that deflected off a defender and into the upper right corner of the net.
In penalties, Donna North appeared to take a 3-2 lead after a save by Viviana Rodriguez, but the officials ruled that she came off the line too early. Alvarado converted the re-kick for Edcouch-Elsa, and Marin sealed it two kicks later.
“The difference was just the lack of intensity that we didn’t bring from the very get-go,” Donna North coach Tony Garcia said. “You saw some of that towards the end. The last 8 to 12 minutes, when Edcouch-Elsa scored, that kind of woke us up and we went from there. But it was a little too late.”
BY GREG LUCA
STAFF WRITER
ELSA — When Edcouch-Elsa’s Cece Marin placed the ball on the line before her potentially game-sealing penalty against Donna North, she already knew where she wanted to go with the shot.
She thought about changing her target as she stepped back to line up the kick, but with a chance to score the first ever win for E-E against rival Donna North, she had to go to her regular favorite spot.
Marin punched the final shot into the left side of the net, turned to her teammates and took a bow, having successfully lifted the Lady Yellowjackets to a 2-1 (4-3 in penalties) win on Tuesday at Benny Layton Sr. Memorial Stadium.
“It’s my senior year, and beating this team just made it,” Marin said. “I knew the game was on my shoulders. It was up to me whether we would win or lose, and the bow just felt like, ‘That was it.’”
A defender for the Lady Yellowjackets, Marin is rarely called on to take penalties. But on Tuesday, E-E assistant coach Alector Cardenas asked head coach Juan Romero to make the switch.
After a strong game on the defensive end slowing down Donna North’s typically powerful attack, Marin was rewarded with the opportunity.
“Cece was like, ‘I’m a senior, I have to take this one,’” Romero said. “She stepped up to it. It was just perfect, the way it ended with her being the hero, after the kind of game she gave us.”
The win for Edcouch-Elsa leaves both teams 2-1 in what will likely be another tight District 32-5A race. Donna North took the crown last season with 38 points, while PSJA Southwest and Edcouch-Elsa tied for second at 28.
The Lady Yellowjackets entered the night 0-4 all-time against the Lady Chiefs, but an E-E group with seven senior starters is hopeful this will be its year to make a run at the league title.
“Since most of our team is seniors, I feel that this is our final hurrah,” Marin said. “This is going to be the year we go into the playoffs pretty deep. I want to go as far as we can.”
For the first 68 minutes of Tuesday’s game, Edcouch-Elsa had chance after chance but came up empty.
Romero said the team put most of its focus on locking down each zone to strangle Donna North’s attack, which bogged down play and kept either team from getting great shots at the net. Still, by his count the Lady Yellowjackets had 11 against the Lady Chiefs’ 3 in the first half and continued to apply pressure in the second.
“It was frustrating, because we’re there, right at the goal, and we can’t score,” junior Genesis Martinez said.
Martinez ended that frustration with 11:52 to play, sending home a free kick from about 27 yards out.
She and teammate Leslie Alvarado both lined up to take the kick, and the defense seemed to freeze as each faked forward as if to shoot. When Romero called out for Martinez from the sideline, she sent it into the back of the net.
“That was, I think, one of my best shots,” Martinez said. “I just grabbed the ball and I was like, this is going to be a goal. I had my mind on the goal.”
The score seemed to light a fire under Donna North, which began attacking with more ferocity the rest of the way. With just less than six minutes to play, Edcouch-Elsa keeper Ali Reyes lunged back and fully extended her right hand, tipping away a looping ball just as it was about to cross the goal line.
Donna North finally found it’s breakthrough with 4:13 to play, tying the game when Elizabeth Reyes hit a shot from 20 yards out that deflected off a defender and into the upper right corner of the net.
In penalties, Donna North appeared to take a 3-2 lead after a save by Viviana Rodriguez, but the officials ruled that she came off the line too early. Alvarado converted the re-kick for Edcouch-Elsa, and Marin sealed it two kicks later.
“The difference was just the lack of intensity that we didn’t bring from the very get-go,” Donna North coach Tony Garcia said. “You saw some of that towards the end. The last 8 to 12 minutes, when Edcouch-Elsa scored, that kind of woke us up and we went from there. But it was a little too late.”
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