ROY HESS | Staff Writer
A soccer season that was one of the Hanna Golden Eagles’ best in recent years came to a disheartening close with a 3-2 loss to San Antonio Reagan in a Region IV-6A Tournament semifinal Friday at Brownsville Sports Park.
The Rattlers broke out of a 2-2 halftime deadlock with a goal near the end of the match. Reagan’s Ricky Huereca received a centering pass from the left side and headed in the ball with eight and a half minutes left to give the Rattlers their game-winning tally.
“It was a tough one,” Hanna coach Reyes Prado said. “We expected that type of battle, and it was a very close battle. Reagan has a very good team. We made some mistakes against a very good team, and we paid the price.
“We had our chances (to score), but that’s the way the ball bounces sometimes,” he added. “Congratulations to Reagan. We just came out a little short, and there’s no shame in that.”
Hanna ended its season with a 17-6-6 record.
Reagan (17-8-2) advances to today’s Class 6A regional final at noon at BSP to face San Antonio Lee (23-2-1), a 4-2 semifinal winner earlier in the day against Laredo Alexander.
“I’m extremely excited for my players,” Reagan coach Gilbert Villarreal said. “They’ve worked really hard and battled. We had a tough beginning to our season, but we’ve been playing well lately. I’m just excited for them to get back to the regional final.
“There are obviously a lot of storylines between us and Lee (both being from District 27-6A),” Villarreal added. “This is the fifth year the regional tournament has been here (at BSP), and no non-Valley (boys) team has ever advanced to state from here, so for either us or Lee to go (to state now) is a big accomplishment for our district and our city.
“For whoever it’s going to be, it’ll be a great day.”
Lee finished first in 27-6A and Reagan was third this year. They played twice during district earlier this season with Lee winning 3-1 and 2-0.
Reagan advanced to state last year from the 6A regional tournament played in San Antonio.
Friday’s game was a rematch from earlier this season between the Eagles and Rattlers. Reagan played Hanna in the Brownsville ISD Tournament on Jan. 10 at Hanna, and the Rattlers prevailed 2-1 in penalty kicks.
It was close again, but like the earlier time, Reagan emerged victorious.
Still, backed by a lively, vocal crowd at BSP, the Eagles went ahead early for a 1-0 lead. Hanna’s Jose Guerrero dribbled the ball in close from midfield, and his shot found the mark during the 14th minute as he beat the goalkeeper in a 1-on-1 matchup.
Fabrizio Bernal pulled the Rattlers even with the Eagles during the 22nd minute by sending a shot into the net off the left post from the right side.
Caleb Powell gave the Rattlers a 2-1 lead during the 28th minute. He received a pass from a teammate on the right side before scoring on a well-placed header from the left side into the right corner of the goal.
Hanna’s Kevin Ochoa put his team back into a tie at 2 when he dribbled in and scored from close range during the 32nd minute.
Neither team gained an advantage until Huereca received the centering pass from the left side with eight and a half minutes to go and scored his game-winning header.