By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
PORT ISABEL — St. Joseph Academy’s unbeaten soccer record remains intact.
The Bloodhounds, ranked No. 10 in the Rio Grande Valley by RGVSports.com, improved to 6-0 on the season with a 6-1 non-district triumph Friday against Port Isabel at Tarpon Stadium.
“We started playing better (last month) two games into our season, and right now we’re picking up momentum,” said Jose Kauachi, a senior attacking midfielder for the Bloodhounds who scored his squad’s first goal Friday. “You can see the team improving, and I’m really confident that we’re going to continue to get better with hard practice and giving it all we’ve got.”
All six of SJA’s goals came during the first half. The first two were scored on headers off corner kicks beginning during the seventh minute when Kauachi sent one into the net following a corner taken from the right side by Andres Rico.
After that came goals by Mario Garcia, Gerardo Moses, Miguel Guerra, Rico and Guerra again. Each of the goals came from close range except a 25-yard blast taken from near the middle of the field by Rico. His goal during the 28th minute made it 5-0.
The lead was 6-0 at intermission.
“It’s good to play,” said SJA coach Tino Villarreal, whose team began its TAPPS season in November. “We’ve been wanting to play games, and now that the UIL season is off and running, it’s good for us to get out there and see different teams and different challenges.
“I think we started off a little flat tonight,” Villarreal added. “It took a couple of corner kicks and headers to spark us and get us going. I told the boys that we shouldn’t have to wait for those moments to start playing well. I thought after those corner kicks (during the seventh and 12th minutes) we distributed the ball well, we passed the ball, we moved better, we ran the angles well and we took some really good shots.
“We started playing the type of soccer that it’s going to take for us to go deep in the (TAPPS) playoffs again.”
The Bloodhounds made a number of substitutions during the second half. The closest they came to scoring throughout the final 40 minutes was a shot that went off the right post with 28 minutes left.
Port Isabel, playing its season opener, recorded its lone goal on a penalty kick with 24 minutes remaining.
SJA next plays at Raymondville at 6 p.m. Tuesday, and the next action for the Tarpons will be Thursday at the Brownsville ISD Tournament. The Bloodhounds also are playing in the BISD Tournament.