The Sports Pulse of Laredo Sports Texas Lrd Sports Wire News Network,
Danny Perez The Soccer Guru Game Analyst goes over the first district.
Danny Perez The Soccer Guru Game Analyst goes over the first district.
The opening round of district soccer play went pretty good for United
High School. Both the girls and boys varsity teams came out on fire as
they let their district foes know that they are ready to compete for
district supremacy. They not only made a bold statement with their play
but they also got a key win over a high quality opponent in the Martin
High School teams.
The soccer guru witness some of the best and most competitive soccer
on their opening district games and this is only the first game. The
soccer guru gives a soccer analyst's prospective of both divisions'
"GAME OF THE WEEK" as these two games were the highlight of
district play.
The first game the soccer guru saw the opening district game
between the Martin Lady Tigers versus the United Lady Longhorns.
Both teams had great success in the Border Olympics Girls Soccer
Tournament and were playing very entertaining soccer on the field.
Both teams were a little banged up from all the physical play of the
tournament but that did not diminish their intensity or the dreams for
district glory. The Lady Longhorns are considered by most in the
district as one of the contenders while the Lady Tigers are an up and
coming team. Both wanted to make a statement on opening night but
only one would emerge victorious.
The opening district game took place at the Student Activity
Complex(SAC) at 730pm. The United Lady Longhorns took to the field
minus one of the most talented players on their team. Last year's
District Defensive Player of the Year Tanya Reynoso was out due to a
broken arm suffered during the Border Olympics Championship game.
Her absence left a huge defensive void in the Lady Longhorns game
plan that would require some of their other players to not only step up
but have great success while doing it. Fellow senior Amanda Nunez
was chosen to shoulder that responsibility and fill in at the center
defender spot. She was playing out of her usually position but
sometimes intense pressure situations bring out the best in us in the
most important times.
The opening whistle sounded and the game took a quick pace. The
Lady Longhorns looked cautiously nervous but were moving the ball
well. The Lady Tigers came out with great intensity and fiery focus to
their team's defensive pressure. That Martin pressure in the opening
minute almost paid dividends as they forced a United defensive line
bad pass in the backfield to be stolen by Lady Tigers talented junior
forward Analee Chavarria. The bad pass forced United goalkeeper
Ana Martinez to come off her line to close the angle and pressure
Chavarria to either take a bad shot or make a spectacular goal.
Chavarria sidestepped beautifully the goalkeeper and the defender
but her shot was saved just short of the goal line by Longhorn
defender Amanda Nunez. The game how they say "WAS ON!!!".
The United Lady Longhorns struggled with the pressure being
applied by the Martin Lady Tigers. The Martin coaching staff put all
their speedy players in their starting lineup as they wanted to take
advantage of that nervousness and defensive insecurity. The Martin
forwards of Analee Chavarria and Norma Herrera were always forcing
bad passes from the United backline. The Martin midfield of Jassel
Ruiz, Damaris Gamas, Karla Partida and Rebecca Sandoval were also
not letting they talented United midfielders get an inch of breathing
room to run their offense. The true surprising action was how the
Martin defense of Valeria Aguirre, Ashley Quintanilla, Mayra Ramirez
and defensive stopper Mayra Muniz clamped down on one of the
district's most prolific scoring forwards. The Martin defense forced the
United forwards to come all the way down to the midfield to try and
recover or even touch the ball. The United Lady Longhorns were
failing to match that same intensity being shown by the Lady Tigers.
This United team looked more nervous as time went on and lacked that
confidence it has always shown. The Lady Longhorns needed one or
more players to step up and get the team going. That the Lady
Longhorns got exactly that in defender Amanda Nunez and midfielder
Esmeralda Villarreal.
The United defense settled down once Amanda Nunez started to
dominate the center of the defense. Her speed and physical play
started to set the tone for the rest of the Lady Longhorns defense.
She got the United defense to raise their level of play and get that
swagger about them. United side defenders Ana Karen Geronimo and
Margaret Rayos were stopping those Martin offensive runs with their
own speed and defensive prowess. United's Geronimo was in a great
one-on-one defensive match-up with Martin's Chavarria that had
Geronimo neutralize Chavarria's speed and offensive output. The
defensive stopper positional play of Andrea Amaro punished anyone
even getting close to her area as she dominated the aerial game in the
middle of the defense. United's goalkeeper Ana Martinez also easily
picked up any long range shot or came off her line with great speed
and excellent timing to quell any Martin dangerous run into her area.
The one thing about the United offense is that they start with their
superb passing from their back line to jump start their attack. So after
some confident defending they got their offense in gear.
The United midfield got it going as United's Esmeralda Villarreal
started to make those long runs down the side lines to open up spaces
in the field. Villarreal's excellent speed and her great ball-control got
the Martin pressure to loosen it's grip as she served as catalyst to
unravel the Martin defensive pressure. Villarreal was juking through
the defensive pressure at will and was also connecting on excellent
crosses into the Martin goal area that got closer and closer. The
United midfield play of senior Karina Garcia and junior Alexia Herrera
almost on cue started to pick up those crosses or passes sent in by
Villarreal to force Martin defensive mistakes. United forwards of juniors
Shataye Paulson and Yazmin Garza started to take shot after shot
onto Martin goalkeeper Alma Martrinez's net. Momentum had shifted
after 20 minutes of play that had the Lady Tigers being the aggressor
but now it was the Lady Longhorns time.
All those United passes and crosses led to a game changing
mistake as a handball was called on the Martin defense inside the goal
area. The center referee whistled a penalty kick that looked to change
the fortunes for the Lady Longhorns. United's Alexia Herrera took the
penalty kick and scored a rocket of a shot past Martin goalkeeper
Alma Martinez. United was up 1-0 after 22 minutes of play. After the
ball went in for the score, you could tell that the Lady Tigers dipped
their heads and started to doubt. United took advantage of this
momentary letdown as they looked closer to their second goal than
Martin's first goal. United got a second goal just before halftime as
United's Esmeralda Villarreal once again made a great run down the
sideline and cut her run in to swerve past the Martin defenders.
Villarreal passed the ball to an oncoming Shataye Paulson making a
nice middle of the field run who one-timed a perfect pass to Yazmin
Garza outside the box who Garza inturn also one-timed a nice diagonal
pass to Alexia Herrera making a great run that led to a 20-yard shot
past Lady Tigers' Martinez outstretched hands for the 2-0 lead. United
looked to have not only gotten the lead but it's confidence as well.
The second half started with the Lady Tigers wanting to keep
possession of the ball but United's stellar midfield was already in an
offensive groove that had all the United Lady Longhorns team move
the ball around. United knew that to control the Martin offense they
would have to limit the offenses touches their forwards would see.
United's defense was still locking down the Martin forwards and any
midfielder trying to get into the action as well. United's Nunez had her
defensive unit working well and communication excellently almost like
never missing beat. United's midfielder Karina Garcia took a corner
kick that placed a pass into the box to which Alexia Herrera headed
down a pass to Yazmin Garza inside the box. Garza took a quick shot
towards the 2nd post and just like that United was up 3-0 early in the
2nd half. Herrera's superior height and jumping ability stood out on this
play as no Martin defender could compete in the air with her but it was
Herrera's pinpoint headed pass that caught the Martin defense
unaware for the goal. United kept the pressure going as Yazmin Garza
returned the favor to Alexia Herrera as the "Batman and Robin"
scoring duo 's superior offensive understanding broke down the Martin
defense. Garza placed a pass inside the box to which Herrera nailed to
the back of he net that stunned the Martin defense for a 4-0 lead in
the middle of the second half.
The Martin Lady Tigers dug deep into their emotions and heart to
get some offensive rhythm. On a corner kick taken by Martin's Ashley
Quintanilla, her excellent pass found the right spot for Martin's Damaris
Gamas to kick in a goal inside the box to get on the scoreboard.
Gamas' kick caught the Longhorns defense by surprise as Gamas
made a great run into the box to narrow the gap 4-1 in favor of the
Lady Longhorns. United got a wake-up call after the goal so they
reacted with applying more pressure to the ball and got into that
groove again. United made some substitutions and their bench gave
the United pressure a needed energy jolt. United players like Frida
Meza and Julie Roman provided that spark in play to offset any
pressure being applied by the Lady Tigers. Meza made several deep
runs into the Martin goal area while maintaining possession or
pressuring the Martin defense to give up the ball. Roman made some
key runs down the sideline to keep the offensive spacing as wide as
possible so that her teammates could run or operate better. Roman
also got into the offensive flow as she stole possession away from the
Lady Tigers and sent a nice pass to Alexia Herrera who made a couple
of moves to get some space to pass the ball. That pass found
Esmeralda Villarreal just outside the goal area and rifled a nice high
shot into the corner of the goal for the game's final goal of the
evening. The United Lady Longhorns win 5-1 over the Martin Lady
Tigers.
After the game the soccer guru spoke to United Head Coach Jerry
Vera who said about the game "We started off a little bit slow. We
started out this week making some big adjustments as one of our
defenders went down to an injury. We were use to always having her
there in practice or at the games so we had to make some changes.
We weren't comfortable as the game started but we got better as the
game went on and the team woke up after that first goal".
The soccer guru asked about the defensive performance from the
Lady Longhorns defensive unit to which Coach Vera stated" we were
worried about how they were going to perform without Tanya, they
were not use to playing in those positions and came out nervous the
first half.
The second half we told them that they are a good defense and they
communicated better and also controlled the game better". The soccer
guru asked about the contribution the Lady Longhorns made to the
game, Coach Vera just said " we always tell the girls that they must be
ready and prepared to make a difference any time they get into the
game. Some of those players stepped up nicely in the game and gave
us good effort and made a positive difference".
The soccer guru then asked Coach Vera about the Martin Lady Tigers
and he said" they have a very good and talented team. They played
us tough and the score does not reflect how close the game was".
The soccer guru the spoke with Martin Lady Tigers Head Coach
Sandra Alcorta about her thoughts of the game, she said "we played a
good game. We came up short but I liked our effort and the girls never
gave up throughout the game. We started out good and had some
chances early but we could not take advantage of those
opportunities".
The soccer guru asked about her team strategy of using their speed in
the starting lineup, she said" we know that United has a fast team so
we just wanted to match-up better with them. We forced them to make
mistakes but their experience made a big difference as most of their
team has been together for some time. But I thought we pressured
good and did not let up on that pressure".
The guru asked her about her opponent and she stated " they are a
very good team. They are always a very strong team and will also
challenge Del Rio for the district title. They returned everyone from last
year so they are one of the favorites in the district".
The soccer guru's overview is that this was a great opening game.
The Lady Tigers looked just as good and capable as the Lady
Longhorns but failed to capitalize on those crucial scoring chances to
change the game. The Lady Longhorns showed why they are one of
the favorites in district as once they got goimg they exposed the Lady
Tigers in all aspects of the game.
The Lady Longhorns also took advantage of the wide field and kept
their passes low enough so that the wind would not affect them. The
Lady Longhorns got excellent performances from their goalkeeper and
the defensive unit to shutdown one of the district's best scoring duo.
Team captain Amanda Nunez did a phenomenal job in taking over for
the injured Reynoso and showed why she is considered one of the
city's best defenders. Great team effort by the Lady Longhorns
midfield and forwards to settle down and use their talents to offset the
defensive pressure by the Martin Lady Tigers.
The Lady Tigers did show that they are ready to challenge the upper
level teams as they did hold their own and never let down their
defensive pressure. Excellent game and the re-match will be just as
good once the second time comes around.
High School. Both the girls and boys varsity teams came out on fire as
they let their district foes know that they are ready to compete for
district supremacy. They not only made a bold statement with their play
but they also got a key win over a high quality opponent in the Martin
High School teams.
The soccer guru witness some of the best and most competitive soccer
on their opening district games and this is only the first game. The
soccer guru gives a soccer analyst's prospective of both divisions'
"GAME OF THE WEEK" as these two games were the highlight of
district play.
The first game the soccer guru saw the opening district game
between the Martin Lady Tigers versus the United Lady Longhorns.
Both teams had great success in the Border Olympics Girls Soccer
Tournament and were playing very entertaining soccer on the field.
Both teams were a little banged up from all the physical play of the
tournament but that did not diminish their intensity or the dreams for
district glory. The Lady Longhorns are considered by most in the
district as one of the contenders while the Lady Tigers are an up and
coming team. Both wanted to make a statement on opening night but
only one would emerge victorious.
The opening district game took place at the Student Activity
Complex(SAC) at 730pm. The United Lady Longhorns took to the field
minus one of the most talented players on their team. Last year's
District Defensive Player of the Year Tanya Reynoso was out due to a
broken arm suffered during the Border Olympics Championship game.
Her absence left a huge defensive void in the Lady Longhorns game
plan that would require some of their other players to not only step up
but have great success while doing it. Fellow senior Amanda Nunez
was chosen to shoulder that responsibility and fill in at the center
defender spot. She was playing out of her usually position but
sometimes intense pressure situations bring out the best in us in the
most important times.
The opening whistle sounded and the game took a quick pace. The
Lady Longhorns looked cautiously nervous but were moving the ball
well. The Lady Tigers came out with great intensity and fiery focus to
their team's defensive pressure. That Martin pressure in the opening
minute almost paid dividends as they forced a United defensive line
bad pass in the backfield to be stolen by Lady Tigers talented junior
forward Analee Chavarria. The bad pass forced United goalkeeper
Ana Martinez to come off her line to close the angle and pressure
Chavarria to either take a bad shot or make a spectacular goal.
Chavarria sidestepped beautifully the goalkeeper and the defender
but her shot was saved just short of the goal line by Longhorn
defender Amanda Nunez. The game how they say "WAS ON!!!".
The United Lady Longhorns struggled with the pressure being
applied by the Martin Lady Tigers. The Martin coaching staff put all
their speedy players in their starting lineup as they wanted to take
advantage of that nervousness and defensive insecurity. The Martin
forwards of Analee Chavarria and Norma Herrera were always forcing
bad passes from the United backline. The Martin midfield of Jassel
Ruiz, Damaris Gamas, Karla Partida and Rebecca Sandoval were also
not letting they talented United midfielders get an inch of breathing
room to run their offense. The true surprising action was how the
Martin defense of Valeria Aguirre, Ashley Quintanilla, Mayra Ramirez
and defensive stopper Mayra Muniz clamped down on one of the
district's most prolific scoring forwards. The Martin defense forced the
United forwards to come all the way down to the midfield to try and
recover or even touch the ball. The United Lady Longhorns were
failing to match that same intensity being shown by the Lady Tigers.
This United team looked more nervous as time went on and lacked that
confidence it has always shown. The Lady Longhorns needed one or
more players to step up and get the team going. That the Lady
Longhorns got exactly that in defender Amanda Nunez and midfielder
Esmeralda Villarreal.
The United defense settled down once Amanda Nunez started to
dominate the center of the defense. Her speed and physical play
started to set the tone for the rest of the Lady Longhorns defense.
She got the United defense to raise their level of play and get that
swagger about them. United side defenders Ana Karen Geronimo and
Margaret Rayos were stopping those Martin offensive runs with their
own speed and defensive prowess. United's Geronimo was in a great
one-on-one defensive match-up with Martin's Chavarria that had
Geronimo neutralize Chavarria's speed and offensive output. The
defensive stopper positional play of Andrea Amaro punished anyone
even getting close to her area as she dominated the aerial game in the
middle of the defense. United's goalkeeper Ana Martinez also easily
picked up any long range shot or came off her line with great speed
and excellent timing to quell any Martin dangerous run into her area.
The one thing about the United offense is that they start with their
superb passing from their back line to jump start their attack. So after
some confident defending they got their offense in gear.
The United midfield got it going as United's Esmeralda Villarreal
started to make those long runs down the side lines to open up spaces
in the field. Villarreal's excellent speed and her great ball-control got
the Martin pressure to loosen it's grip as she served as catalyst to
unravel the Martin defensive pressure. Villarreal was juking through
the defensive pressure at will and was also connecting on excellent
crosses into the Martin goal area that got closer and closer. The
United midfield play of senior Karina Garcia and junior Alexia Herrera
almost on cue started to pick up those crosses or passes sent in by
Villarreal to force Martin defensive mistakes. United forwards of juniors
Shataye Paulson and Yazmin Garza started to take shot after shot
onto Martin goalkeeper Alma Martrinez's net. Momentum had shifted
after 20 minutes of play that had the Lady Tigers being the aggressor
but now it was the Lady Longhorns time.
All those United passes and crosses led to a game changing
mistake as a handball was called on the Martin defense inside the goal
area. The center referee whistled a penalty kick that looked to change
the fortunes for the Lady Longhorns. United's Alexia Herrera took the
penalty kick and scored a rocket of a shot past Martin goalkeeper
Alma Martinez. United was up 1-0 after 22 minutes of play. After the
ball went in for the score, you could tell that the Lady Tigers dipped
their heads and started to doubt. United took advantage of this
momentary letdown as they looked closer to their second goal than
Martin's first goal. United got a second goal just before halftime as
United's Esmeralda Villarreal once again made a great run down the
sideline and cut her run in to swerve past the Martin defenders.
Villarreal passed the ball to an oncoming Shataye Paulson making a
nice middle of the field run who one-timed a perfect pass to Yazmin
Garza outside the box who Garza inturn also one-timed a nice diagonal
pass to Alexia Herrera making a great run that led to a 20-yard shot
past Lady Tigers' Martinez outstretched hands for the 2-0 lead. United
looked to have not only gotten the lead but it's confidence as well.
The second half started with the Lady Tigers wanting to keep
possession of the ball but United's stellar midfield was already in an
offensive groove that had all the United Lady Longhorns team move
the ball around. United knew that to control the Martin offense they
would have to limit the offenses touches their forwards would see.
United's defense was still locking down the Martin forwards and any
midfielder trying to get into the action as well. United's Nunez had her
defensive unit working well and communication excellently almost like
never missing beat. United's midfielder Karina Garcia took a corner
kick that placed a pass into the box to which Alexia Herrera headed
down a pass to Yazmin Garza inside the box. Garza took a quick shot
towards the 2nd post and just like that United was up 3-0 early in the
2nd half. Herrera's superior height and jumping ability stood out on this
play as no Martin defender could compete in the air with her but it was
Herrera's pinpoint headed pass that caught the Martin defense
unaware for the goal. United kept the pressure going as Yazmin Garza
returned the favor to Alexia Herrera as the "Batman and Robin"
scoring duo 's superior offensive understanding broke down the Martin
defense. Garza placed a pass inside the box to which Herrera nailed to
the back of he net that stunned the Martin defense for a 4-0 lead in
the middle of the second half.
The Martin Lady Tigers dug deep into their emotions and heart to
get some offensive rhythm. On a corner kick taken by Martin's Ashley
Quintanilla, her excellent pass found the right spot for Martin's Damaris
Gamas to kick in a goal inside the box to get on the scoreboard.
Gamas' kick caught the Longhorns defense by surprise as Gamas
made a great run into the box to narrow the gap 4-1 in favor of the
Lady Longhorns. United got a wake-up call after the goal so they
reacted with applying more pressure to the ball and got into that
groove again. United made some substitutions and their bench gave
the United pressure a needed energy jolt. United players like Frida
Meza and Julie Roman provided that spark in play to offset any
pressure being applied by the Lady Tigers. Meza made several deep
runs into the Martin goal area while maintaining possession or
pressuring the Martin defense to give up the ball. Roman made some
key runs down the sideline to keep the offensive spacing as wide as
possible so that her teammates could run or operate better. Roman
also got into the offensive flow as she stole possession away from the
Lady Tigers and sent a nice pass to Alexia Herrera who made a couple
of moves to get some space to pass the ball. That pass found
Esmeralda Villarreal just outside the goal area and rifled a nice high
shot into the corner of the goal for the game's final goal of the
evening. The United Lady Longhorns win 5-1 over the Martin Lady
Tigers.
After the game the soccer guru spoke to United Head Coach Jerry
Vera who said about the game "We started off a little bit slow. We
started out this week making some big adjustments as one of our
defenders went down to an injury. We were use to always having her
there in practice or at the games so we had to make some changes.
We weren't comfortable as the game started but we got better as the
game went on and the team woke up after that first goal".
The soccer guru asked about the defensive performance from the
Lady Longhorns defensive unit to which Coach Vera stated" we were
worried about how they were going to perform without Tanya, they
were not use to playing in those positions and came out nervous the
first half.
The second half we told them that they are a good defense and they
communicated better and also controlled the game better". The soccer
guru asked about the contribution the Lady Longhorns made to the
game, Coach Vera just said " we always tell the girls that they must be
ready and prepared to make a difference any time they get into the
game. Some of those players stepped up nicely in the game and gave
us good effort and made a positive difference".
The soccer guru then asked Coach Vera about the Martin Lady Tigers
and he said" they have a very good and talented team. They played
us tough and the score does not reflect how close the game was".
The soccer guru the spoke with Martin Lady Tigers Head Coach
Sandra Alcorta about her thoughts of the game, she said "we played a
good game. We came up short but I liked our effort and the girls never
gave up throughout the game. We started out good and had some
chances early but we could not take advantage of those
opportunities".
The soccer guru asked about her team strategy of using their speed in
the starting lineup, she said" we know that United has a fast team so
we just wanted to match-up better with them. We forced them to make
mistakes but their experience made a big difference as most of their
team has been together for some time. But I thought we pressured
good and did not let up on that pressure".
The guru asked her about her opponent and she stated " they are a
very good team. They are always a very strong team and will also
challenge Del Rio for the district title. They returned everyone from last
year so they are one of the favorites in the district".
The soccer guru's overview is that this was a great opening game.
The Lady Tigers looked just as good and capable as the Lady
Longhorns but failed to capitalize on those crucial scoring chances to
change the game. The Lady Longhorns showed why they are one of
the favorites in district as once they got goimg they exposed the Lady
Tigers in all aspects of the game.
The Lady Longhorns also took advantage of the wide field and kept
their passes low enough so that the wind would not affect them. The
Lady Longhorns got excellent performances from their goalkeeper and
the defensive unit to shutdown one of the district's best scoring duo.
Team captain Amanda Nunez did a phenomenal job in taking over for
the injured Reynoso and showed why she is considered one of the
city's best defenders. Great team effort by the Lady Longhorns
midfield and forwards to settle down and use their talents to offset the
defensive pressure by the Martin Lady Tigers.
The Lady Tigers did show that they are ready to challenge the upper
level teams as they did hold their own and never let down their
defensive pressure. Excellent game and the re-match will be just as
good once the second time comes around.
