By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
When their TAPPS soccer season began in November, the St. Joseph Academy Bloodhounds envisioned they would be exactly where they are right now.
Thanks to Saturday’s 3-2 come-from-behind overtime win against San Antonio Antonian, the Bloodhounds are district champions for the second straight year and opening the TAPPS playoffs at home Tuesday.
It’s just what they wanted, and now they’ll find out what comes next in the postseason.
SJA (16-5-1) takes on Plano Prestonwood (9-17-2) at 11 a.m. Tuesday at Canales Field.
A win would advance the Bloodhounds to the second round of the playoffs, most likely against another team from the Dallas area on Saturday at a neutral site, which could be San Antonio.
The Bloodhounds have most of their players back from last season’s team that went 16-4-2, won district and advanced to the TAPPS state semifinals.
For those reasons, their expectations are high for 2016.
“I hope we start playing like we did Saturday (when we rallied from a 2-0 deficit during the second half) because we want to make a deep run in the playoffs,” SJA coach Tino Villarreal said. “Our goal is to always reach higher, but we know we have to take it one game at a time.
“Saturday marked the first time we had all 11 starters on the field in about two weeks,” Villarreal added. “Part of the (early) pressure we had (against Antonian) was just getting to know how to play with each other again. We’ve had a lot of injuries, so we’re fortunate to have everybody healing up at the right time.”
Saturday’s hero for the Bloodhounds was senior midfielder Anuar Atiye, who scored a goal with fewer than nine minutes remaining in regulation to tie the match at 2 at Canales Field. Then just 24 seconds into the second 10-minute overtime period, Atiye sent a rolling shot into the right corner of the goal that the Antonian goalkeeper couldn’t react to in time.
His golden goal was the game-winner as the Bloodhounds celebrated an emotional 3-2 come-from-behind victory.
“We were kind of dispirited (down 2-0), but we knew we could come back,” Atiye said. “We’ve been in that situation before, and we just give everything we can (to rally and win).
“I’m very proud of my teammates,” Atiye added. “We won as a team, and we’re ready now for our next game in the playoffs. We play as a team and as a family for the community of St. Joseph.”
Roy Hess covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @HessRgehess.