By FREDDY GONZALEZ | Staff Writer
HARLINGEN — The Harlingen South Lady Hawks showed some offensive firepower and rock-solid defense as they downed Hidalgo 5-0 in their home opener Tuesday night at Boggus Stadium.
Emily Velazquez, Klarisa Rodriguez and Amber Ray all scored before the half as the Lady Hawks put the finishing touches on their final game before opening the District 32-6A schedule Tuesday against Brownsville Veterans.
“We played well tonight,” said Harlingen South head coach Omar Pedroza. “It’s just one of those games before district where you hope that nobody gets hurt. You try to play everybody and you get that final last look at the team before district starts.
“Our district is really tough and the main deal is that everybody is pretty much healthy, and you play this last game before district hoping nobody gets hurt.”
Velazquez opened the scoring for the Lady Hawks with 15 minutes remaining in the first half. Ely Aguilar provided the assist with a low cross from the outside before Velazquez got behind the ball and poked it from inside the box.
Shortly afterward, teammate Rodriguez also found the back of the net for a Harlingen South from a corner kick. Hidalgo goalkeeper Marcela Moreno punched the ball out of the area, only to fall in front of Rodriguez where she put it past the keeper to give South the 2-0 lead before Ray made it 3-0 five minutes before the break.
The Lady Hawks weren’t done. Lexy Garza and Alise Garza added to Harlingen South’s lead in the second half.
The game ends a busy non-district schedule for the Lady Hawks that saw the team travel to the Spring Branch tournament (near Houston) where the Lady Hawks took first place.
They then returned to play in the Edcouch-Elsa Showcase where they went 2-1, losing to Sharyland on penalty kicks.
“We played real well against those teams,” said Pedroza. “We got a chance to play some different teams that play a different kind of soccer.”