NATHANIEL MATA | STAFF WRITER
EDINBURG — It took a few minutes to get the stove hot, but once it was on the Edinburg Vela SaberCats turned up the heat and cooked the visiting Sharyland Rattlers 3-0 in Edinburg on Tuesday night.
Two first-half goals, in quick succession, ended up being more than enough offense for the home side to defeat the visiting Rattlers 3-0.
In the opening 10 minutes of play, Sharyland actually carried play by staying on possession and owning any opportunity to shoot from dangerous positions. The Rattlers, however, were without sophomore Xochitl Nguma, the most potent returning piece of their offense from last year’s team, which didn’t help their ability to finish in the final third.
“I think the first few minutes, we were kind of not focusing,” Vela coach Americo Cortez said. “We were expecting them to come at us and we waited a little for them, trying to counterattack. Once we started getting the ball we started touching it better. Our passes were better; little by little we were taking control of the mid (field).”
After the sluggish feeling out period, Vela began to earn more time on the ball. The SaberCats made good use of their time on attack.
At the 12:42 mark of the first half, senior Allison Torres opened the scoring after a ball pinballed around in the penalty area to the foot of Taylor Campbell.
The sophomore drew attention but opted to dish the ball to Torres who buried the pass.
The SaberCats doubled their lead just a little more than three minutes later. Kristyn Calvillo shot a ball to the top corner away from the reach of Sharyland keeper Ana De La Torre.
“That was really a beautiful goal,” Torres said of her teammates shot. “Coach keeps telling us to take shots because ‘What’s the worse thing that can happen?’ We just keep taking shots and a beauty like that can happen.”
Sharyland’s Valeria Brito and Sabrina Ramirez were the sophomores tasked with creating offense in Nguma’s absence. But most of the energy and momentum that Shary’s forwards had forged early had dissipated by halftime.
Vela’s Cary Richards was probably the most involved SaberCats defender. She made a few clears adventurous with whiffs. Since the center back was the last line of defense, she was challenged often and kept the Rattlers from generating scoring chances.
The key to the clean sheet for Vela was limiting Sharyland’s fluidity through the center of the field, which was thanks to a responsible game from the back end.
“I think the defense really helps us a lot when us midfielders don’t always come back,” Torres said. “They’re always there strong, supporting us and our goalie is always there helping us. They’re there kicking the ball out, passing it wide, creating plays. That’s very important, especially since we do so many quick touches on the ball.”
The Rattlers’ best chance came at the midway point of the second half when Caeli Sullivan was able to shoot the ball past Vela keeper Ashley de la Cruz but was denied by the far post.
Vela had many chances to make their lead three goals. Danya Selber and Campbell were a strong duo late but weren’t able to convert.
Torres nearly had her second goal on a free kick but was stopped. A few minutes later, she was chosen to take a penalty kick. That time she made no mistake, completing the double with a hard shot the opposite direction of de la Torre’s save attempt.
“We have a really hard district this year,” Torres said. “I guess we’re just getting prepared mentally and physically on how we should be playing and how we should never give up. We play hard teams because it helps us get prepared for that.”
Vela’s next outing is against 2018 regional qualifiers Brownsville Rivera at home Friday night.