By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
In an unpredictable night of soccer, the Lopez Lady Lobos emerged as District 32-6A champions.
Lopez beat the Brownsville Veterans Memorial Lady Chargers 1-0 in overtime Tuesday at Brownsville Veterans Memorial.
Coupled with Hanna’s 3-2 victory Tuesday at home against Los Fresnos, the Lady Lobos captured the 32-6A title with an 11-3 record and 32 points.
Los Fresnos went into the final night of 32-6A action in first place and finished tied for second place with Harlingen South, a 1-0 winner over Harlingen High. South and Los Fresnos each finish 10-4 with 30 points.
The Lady Falcons have the tiebreaker edge over the Lady Hawks and will be the district’s No. 2 seed in next week’s bi-district playoffs, while South will be No. 3.
Brownsville Veterans (9-5, 27 points) advances to the postseason as 32-6A’s No. 4 team.
The game between the Lady Lobos and Lady Chargers was decided two minutes into the first half of OT when a Lopez corner kick was taken from the right side and the incoming ball appeared to hit the hand of a Lady Chargers player situated near the right post.
Without hesitation the referee awarded a penalty kick to the Lady Lobos, and Samantha Ruiz, a senior center midfielder, converted it with a strong shot into the net.
“It’s just amazing (that we’re district champions),” Ruiz said. “We never lost hope. I’m just proud of my team that the girls never gave up. They try 110 percent every game, and that’s all I can ask for.”
When the match at Brownsville Veterans finally ended after 100 minutes of regulation play and OT, there with disbelief at first that the Lady Lobos were actually 32-6A champions until the Hanna-Los Fresnos score was confirmed.
“I’m just so proud of our girls because we’re in a district that is really a roller coaster ride,” Lady Lobos coach Alex Macias said. “I might have said five games ago that we were confident about winning district. Of course, I was wrong because you never know what might happen with the teams in this district. They’re all very strong.
“In addition to the girls, I would like to congratulate my assistant coaches Ramon Zuniga, Adrian Navarro and Gilberto Escobedo. With such a roller coaster of a district, a lot of stress plays into it, and my assistants have done a lot to pick up the slack and help me. I would like to make sure they are recognized, too.”