BY NATHANIEL MATA | STAFF WRITER
EDINBURG — Edinburg Vela weathered the storm from Edinburg High early to take control in Monday morning’s grudge match between sister schools and District 31-6A playoff teams.
The SaberCats scored four unanswered goals to win 4-0 at Richard R. Flores Stadium. Vela’s win serves as payback after losing to the Bobcats on Feb. 15 in the first round of district play.
That meeting, almost a month ago, was the last time Vela lost before starting a six-game win streak.
“It’s a rivalry, and, of course they were going to come back aggressive because they beat us the first time,” junior Dayana Cantu said. “We had to put some goals in and not go to penalties.”
Vela improves to 9-2 in district play and sits in second place, just two points behind 31-6A leaders Edinburg North. EHS falls to 7-4 with 21 points, a point behind third-place Donna North — the Bobcats’ next opponent.
Edinburg High showed a lot of positive qualities early by keeping the ball for a greater share than Vela for about 20 minutes after the whistle.
With 23:55 to play, SaberCats keeper Joanna Corona nearly gifted the Bobcats their first score after bobbling a shot at her. A pack of EHS forwards and midfielders nearly pounced on the loose ball, but Corona corralled it in time to evade the threat.
Regina Monroy almost found the net for the Bobcats, but Corona was up to the challenge by batting the shot postmarked for the top shelf. Senior Leah Sanchez had the final Grade A scoring opportunity for EHS before Vela found their footing. The small-but-mighty No. 10 had space alone in front of the goalie, but shot the ball wide on an early touch.
Cantu took matters into her own hands by scoring two goals 90 seconds apart. On a corner kick with eight minutes remaining in the first half, Cantu was in the right place at the right time and put a knee on the ball to beat the keeper.
“She crossed it in and I just ran into it,” Cantu said. “I tried to put my foot on it, but it touched my knee.”
With six and a half to play in the half, Cantu scored her third goal in two games to give the SaberCats a 2-0 halftime advantage. Her far-side shot went post and in to give not only a second score, but a psychological edge as well.
“We have so many people that can play so many different spots; we’re very lucky to have such a variety of players,” defender Danya Selber said.
EHS failed to create much after the goals started finding the net for Vela.
SaberCats coach Americo Cortez admitted that his team was a bit slower to find their form early than the opposition during the rare morning start.
“We started slow and we struggled at the beginning. We had two injuries right away and our girls were not focusing. We started not running,” Cortez said. “We looked like we were not awake. We started passing the ball and pressuring the ball until we scored; from there the girls decided to play the game and it was over.”
In the second half, two more SaberCats got in on the action. First, when Krystin Calvillo put plenty of leg on a ball from distance after intercepting a clearance from EHS’s goalie.
Her blast was hard and high but the trajectory of the ball was just right to fly over the head of the keeper, who was off her line and into the net.
With 27:30 to play the Bobcats goalie and her defenders were scrambling to clear the ball following a corner kick. That’s when Selber rushed in to put her head to the ball. No one was able to stop the rolling ball and fourth score.
Selber, a junior, explained her team was able to pull away late because they are the older unit less prone to being rattled.
The Bobcats do field a freshman- and sophomore-heavy roster, with a dash of senior presence.
“A lot of them (EHS) are new players, so toward the end of the game we just had more of the connection and more of the experience with each other to finish it off,” Selber said.
She explained why she was so happy to pitch in on the score sheet.
“As a defender, I play in the back, sometimes holding, sometimes attacking but I always go up on corner,” she said. “It’s a nice way to get us pumped because we’re defending the goals — not scoring them.”