Heat Keeps Rolling Versus FC Brownsville
First Match Between Bordertown Rivals Extends Winning Streak to Four for Laredo
The Laredo Heat SC (4-0-0, 12 points) returned home from a long road trip that had them in West Texas (Midland) and East Texas (Houston) the previous week and took care of an FC Brownsville Coyotes (2-2-0, six points) squad to stay undefeated in their inaugural 2018 National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) season.
Guillermo “Memo” Diaz scored his third goal of the season and both Ziyad Fares and Gabriel Rodriguez scored their second goals respectively, in a 4-1 Heat victory over the Coyotes Wednesday night at the Texas A&M International University (TAMIU) Soccer Complex.
Laredo Forward Rafael Montabes added a late goal for the Gateway City club with a score from the left side of the pitch in the 86th minute of the match.
The Heat attack was aggressive from the onset as they scored two quick goals in the first half to take control for the game – in the third minute of the game, Gabriel Rodriguez took off on the right side of the pitch that forced FC Brownsville goalkeeper Peter Gross to come out – at that point, Rodriguez keenly found Ziyad Fares on his left and Fares wasted no time in netting the initial goal to give Laredo the 1 – 0 early lead.
For the next few minutes of the match, the Heat got called for offside on more than just a multiple occasions but the aggressive play would pay off in the 21st minute as Guillermo “Memo” Diaz showed some serious speed from his midfield position and beat the FC Brownsville backline to score the second goal of the game.
In the 31st minute, FC Brownsville Forward Juan Lozoya managed to score to cut the Heat lead to 2-1 to make the game interesting for the home team and that was how the game ended at the half.
The Heat wasted little time coming into the second half when Gabriel Rodriguez was found wide open near the left side of the goal and just as he received the ball, he was able to score into the left corner of the goal to give the Heat a 3-1 lead in the 46th minute.
“It was not pretty but we got the result, we live, we learn, we get better and let’s try to now get us to start playing the way we want to play and get that result,” mentioned Head Coach Dana Taylor to the team after the match.
With the win, Laredo grabbed the top spot in the NPSL’s Lone Star Conference; however, it was not an easy victory as the score would indicate as the Heat were still showing some wear and tear from their trip across the Lone Star State as passes were being missed and they were forcing play early in the game – but the effort did give the home side a current undefeated record.
Laredo will have a complete week of rest as they return to action on Wednesday, June 6th versus the Houston Dutch Lions at the TAMIU Soccer Complex. Kickoff will be at 8:15 pm.
Contributor: Laredo Heat SC
Photo Credit: Luis Tienda and Guillermo Sosa
