BY BRYAN RAMOS | STAFF WRITER
MISSION — It took just 25 seconds for La Joya Juarez-Lincoln to strike in its matchup against Mission High Friday night as District 30-6A’s top teams clashed at Tom Landry Stadium.
Senior striker Nicolas Diaz received the ball on the right side of the field and took two dribbles before sending a rocket just left of the Mission goalie and into the back of the net. The Huskies have gotten used to seeing the ball go in early against opponents as this was their second time scoring in the game’s opening 30 seconds.
“We’ve been playing really well lately and we’ve been scoring goals real quick, so it seems we’re getting used to it,” Juarez-Lincoln coach Victor Ramos said after his team’s 3-1 win over the Eagles. “We just wanted to play our game. We know we’re one of the better teams and we just wanted to play the way that we’ve been playing lately.”
Eight minutes after Diaz’ goal, the Huskies were at it again. Junior midfielder Sergio Escareno was tapped to take a Juarez-Lincoln penalty kick, which he converted to put his team up 2-0 just 10 minutes into the match.
The Eagles’ back was against the wall facing a two-goal deficit, but that’s when Mission made its move. Junior forward Sebastian Montes attacked the Juarez-Lincoln defense and found himself with just the goalie in between him and the net. Montes won that battle to give Mission its only goal of the match with 12:50 to play in the first half. Although the Eagles had plenty of opportunities to punch one in over the next 50 minutes, they couldn’t convert.
“We played equally in the second half and we had several chances,” Mission coach Christos Barouhas said. “We controlled the game the way we’re supposed to, we won a lot of balls. We should have scored, but it didn’t happen, and that’s the nature of the game. We’re learning from our mistakes and we’ll take it from there.”
Diaz scored his second goal of the night off a deflection with 10:39 remaining to seal the victory for the Huskies.
“We wanted to win to stay in first place, and that’s our goal, district champs again,” Diaz said after his two-goal performance. “We’re building confidence to get to the playoffs and working harder.”
The win improves Juarez-Lincoln’s district record to 10-0 with 30 points, while Mission falls to 8-2 and 22 points.
“Every game is preparation for the playoffs,” Ramos said. “We want to continue improving, playing good soccer and try to improve every time out.”