BY GREG LUCA | STAFF WRITER
MISSION — For most of Tuesday night’s non-district game, Sharyland High forward Eric Izaguirre was stifled by Los Fresnos keeper Jesus Malerva.
Early on, Izaguirre received a low, driven cross and put the shot just wide. Later, he took a hard shot from the top of the box that Malerva stuffed. In the second half, he sent two free kicks from straight on zinging over the crossbar.
But when Izaguirre found himself alone at the top of the 18-yard box with the ball at his feet and the game tied at 1 in the closing minutes, he saw that he had the perfect angle. His slowest shot of the night dribbled past Malerva and tucked neatly inside the far post, lifting Sharyland to a 2-1 win at Richard Thompson Stadium.
“He had a couple of those chances that he didn’t put in, and he told me, ‘Coach, I already missed a couple, I’m not going to miss the next one,’” Sharyland coach Rev Hernandez said. “And he didn’t.”
Izaguirre used his speed and strength to muscle past the Los Fresnos defense on the play. Although he didn’t have any teammates in a position to score, he noticed that Malerva was slightly out of position, and that was the only queue he needed.
“I just shot it. I didn’t even think twice about it,” Izaguirre said. “I was like, ‘I have to take it. This is the moment that forwards live for: One on one, against the goalie.’”
Those opportunities weren’t always kind to Sharyland on Tuesday, as Malerva made big save after big safe to keep Los Fresnos in it.
His most impressive save came early in the second half, when Sharyland’s Gabriel Garcia received a cross at the top of the box and ripped a shot towards goal. Malerva dove to his right and needed full extension to block it aside with his right hand.
Hernandez called Malerva an “excellent goalie,” and Izaguirre said he made a point of going up to tell him ‘Good job’ after the game.
“He’s the goalie that took us three rounds last year, so he comes with a lot of experience,” Los Fresnos coach Javier Navarrete said. “He’s very poised. He gives our defense a lot of confidence.”
Only when Malerva was slightly out of position due to a scramble for a loose ball was Sharyland able to pick up its first goal, and even then Malerva got a piece. The Rattlers’ Roberto Rangel, a defender, snuck forward and smashed his first touch towards net from about 30 yards out. Malerva dove and made the deflection, but the ball still snuck into the near corner of the goal.
The Falcons promptly answered with a tally by Joan Sandoval off a header on a corner kick, the last score until Izaguirre’s late winner.
“I think the team played pretty well,” Izaguirre said. “We touched the ball. We were fast. We had control. We just couldn’t put it in the back of the net. That’s why it was a tough game tonight.”
Tuesday’s game was also very chippy and physical for a non-district contest. Late in the match, Sharyland’s Yosel Magana and Los Fresnos’ Liver Camarillo nearly had an altercation, with players on both sides gathering before the teams were separated.
“That’s how we do it around here: We Rattlers don’t like to lose at home,” Izaguirre said. “That’s just like they’re spitting on us. We try to win every single time we play here. That’s why the intensity goes so high.”