ROY HESS | Staff Writer
As the third week of the UIL soccer season gets underway, the Harlingen High Lady Cardinals and Harlingen South Lady Hawks are still on fire. Each team again captured a decisive non-district victory Tuesday and is scheduled for tournament play beginning today.
One week ago, Harlingen High won at home 8-0 against Laredo LBJ. On Tuesday, the Lady Cardinals journeyed to Weslaco High to face their former district foes, the Pantherettes, and won 9-1.
Harlingen High led 4-1 at halftime.
Monique Rodriguez led the Lady Cardinals with three goals. Lauren Powell and Claire Reed each added two goals, and teammates Kay-Lane Vasquez and Alexa Gonzalez each contributed a solo tally.
“The girls took about 10 minutes to finally start getting into the game,” Harlingen High coach Debra Galvan said. “Once they did, they didn’t look back. The passing got better and more shots on goal were taken.
“The chemistry between the girls is great, and the girls coming off the bench stepped up when they went in,” Galvan added. “Overall, I am pleased with how well the girls are playing together.”
The Lady Cardinals are playing in the PSJA Tournament that starts today and runs through Saturday.
The Lady Hawks posted another big non-district win Tuesday at home against Mercedes after opening the season with victories against PSJA High (4-2) and PSJA Memorial (10-0).
South defeated the Lady Tigers 7-0. The Lady Hawks led 5-0 at halftime.
The Lady Hawks next are scheduled to play in the Donna North Tournament, which also starts today and runs through Saturday.
The San Benito Lady Greyhounds, coming off Monday’s non-district 0-0 tie with Edinburg Economedes, also are entered in the Donna North event.
BACK TO BROWNSVILLE
The San Benito and Harlingen South boys are returning to Brownsville this week to play in the inaugural South Texas Futbol Showcase that starts today with games at Brownsville Rivera, Brownsville Hanna and Los Fresnos‘ Leo Aguilar Memorial Stadium.
Last week, the Greyhounds, Hawks and Harlingen High Cardinals played in the 37th annual Brownsville ISD Tournament/Showcase. The Cardinals, coming off Tuesday’s 2-2 non-district tie at home against Brownsville Pace, are going to the Hidalgo Tournament this week.
In other non-district action earlier this week, South defeated Donna High 3-2 on Monday and San Benito edged Weslaco East 1-0 on Tuesday.
Both the Hawks and Greyhounds are excited about going back to a Brownsville tournament to face some strong opposition.
“The games (there) are great since we don’t have to travel so far, yet we get high-quality competition,” South coach Julian Robles said. “The Valley is packed with talented teams, and Brownsville has competitive tournaments/showcases every year.”
San Benito coach William Huerta agreed.
“It’s a good experience for the players,” Huerta said. “We get to see the players in different positions and how well they work together.”
The 18-team South Texas Futbol Showcase begins at 10 a.m. today and runs through Saturday with full 80-minute games, three per day, at each of the three sites. Similar to last week’s 37th annual BISD Tournament/Showcase, there will be no championship match.
Besides South, San Benito, Rivera, Hanna and Los Fresnos, the other participating teams are Pace, Brownsville Veterans, Brownsville Porter, Brownsville Lopez, Jubilee Brownsville, Edinburg Economedes, Edinburg North, Edinburg Vela, La Joya High, La Joya Juarez-Lincoln, PSJA High, McAllen High, and Laredo United.
To open the event today, San Benito plays Jubilee Brownsville at 10 a.m. at Hanna and South goes against PSJA High at 10 a.m. at Rivera.