Roy Hess, Staff Writer
HIDALGO — The Pace Vikings pulled off another improbable upset against the Valley View Tigers in the Class 5A state soccer playoffs.
Pace won Tuesday’s regional quarterfinal 2-0 at Tiger Stadium, the same site the Vikings surprised favored Valley View 2-0 in bi-district last season.
After a scoreless first half, the District 32-5A runner-up Vikings tallied a pair of goals within an 11-minute span early in the second half en route to shutting out the District 31-5A runner-up Tigers and securing a trip to Friday’s Region IV-5A Tournament at Corpus Christi’s Cabaniss Field.
Pace will play Cedar Creek or Austin Vandergrift on Friday in the regional semifinals.
“I’m more than happy,” Pace coach Mario A. Zamora said. “We’ve been waiting for this since last year. It feels very good.”
Valley View, ranked No. 2 in the Rio Grande Valley by RGVSports.com, ended its season 24-2-2.
With four minutes gone in the second half, a long free kick from the right side by Pace carried into area around the goalmouth and was headed in by Abel Jaramillo, who was situated about 10 yards out on the left side. It gave the Vikings a 1-0 advatage.
Pace, unranked in the Valley Top 10, had an apparent goal waved off due to an offsides call just a minute later after its initial goal.
Then the Vikings’ Benlly Galvan sent a rocket of a shot from the right side off a free kick into the right corner of the net with 25 minutes left to play. It was a shot taken from 21 yards out.
The Vikings’ 2-0 lead stood up the rest of the way to send their fans home in a celebratory mood.
“Thanks to my teammates, our fans and everyone who came out to see us play,” Galvan said.
The closest the Tigers came to scoring was a shot that went off the right post with just under 29 minutes remaining.