BY NATHANIEL MATA | STAFF WRITER
MISSION — A lot changed in the final 15 minutes and 36 seconds of the first meeting between Sharyland High and Sharyland Pioneer’s in the 2019 girls soccer season.
One thing that remained consistent was the intensity on the field between the two programs. The rivalry did not lose its luster, it’s just looking for new stars to shine after an exodus of graduating talent.
Olivia Vasquez and Abby Martinez provided second-half goals to give the home Diamondbacks a dramatic 2-1 win over Sharyland High Tuesday night at Pioneer High School.
The win marked the first time Pioneer has prevailed over Sharyland High in regulation.
Vasquez, one of the team’s few seniors, had words of motivation for her less experienced teammates to try to guide her Diamondbacks to their first regulation win over the Rattlers.
“I talked to (the team) during the half and I said ‘Right now, this time right now is when we have to turn this game around,” Vasquez said after the win. “And nobody better put their heads down. We have 40 minutes, the game is far from over so we better get our heads up. We need to just push through, finish the hardest we can and make things happen.’ That’s exactly what we did.”
As the final 15 minutes approached, Vasquez was called to take a free-kick from about 35 yards out. The left-footed defender floated the kick into a perfect spot to level the score, just over the goalie’s reach but under the crossbar.
Exactly two minutes later, Pioneer had its first opportunity to take the lead. A foul inside the penalty area gave the Diamondbacks their second shot from the spot during the game.
In the first half, Sharyland’s goalie Ana De La Torre was able to stop a PK attempt from Jocelyn Boyle.
But with the game in the balance, sophomore Abby Martinez delivered on the winning kick past a sprawled out De La Torre.
“Last year, we lost in regulation and we won in penalties,” Martinez said. “We’ve been looking forward to this game for a long time because we felt ready. The nerves were there (on the penalty attempt) but I felt confident to take it.”
Vasquez also had one of the most important tasks all night, slowing down last season’s Monitor Newcomer of the Year: Sharyland’s Xochitl Nguma.
“She’s one of their biggest playmakers so coach knew everything started from her,” Olivia Vasquez said. “We just had to shut her down and her outlets. Me and Cielo (Bocanegra,) our center-mid, did exactly that.”
For a majority of the match, Pioneer possessed the ball and owned the better chances. However, Sharyland High’s Chloe Ribera turned the game on its head when she struck gold on a long free-kick 10 minutes before the break.
The sophomore is hard to move off the ball, knocks opponents down a lot more often than she’s sent to the turf and she possesses a powerful kick.
Even with all those traits, the defender isn’t known for her offense. So when she scored her team’s first goal, 30 minutes into the match, her big celebration was warranted.
“I told the girls at halftime I felt like last year we had controlled the tempo of the games too and we came out with one win in PKs and one loss in PKs,” Pioneer coach J.J. Lopez said. “I told them we can’t afford that, but we’re going to get our chances in the second half, you just have to be patient.”
Sharyland Pioneer improves to 3-0 in district 31-5A play, while Sharyland High falls to 1-2 with a PK loss to Roma.
“This is all about points, you win you get points, you lose you don’t get points,” Martinez said. “So winning in regulation really helps us, we’re five points ahead of Sharyland. We can’t calm down, we can’t ease up but it helps us to be more confident.”