Heat Playoff Birth on the Line this Weekend
The quest for a playoff birth begins this Saturday, July 16th at 8:00 PM for the Laredo Heat Soccer Club ( 7 - 6 - 0 / 21 Points ) as they take on the Second Place Austin Lightning ( 7 - 4 - 2 / 23 Points ) at the Student Activity Complex (SAC) located at Highway 359 and Loop 20.
With a win on Saturday versus the Lightning, the Heat will take over Second Place in the Mid-South Division of the Southern Conference. The first and second place teams in each Premier Development League (PDL) division advance into the post season.
After this weekend, the Laredo Heat will be finishing up the PDL regular season with an out of town trip to Tennessee to play the Memphis Express on Friday, July 22nd in Memphis and on Saturday, July 23rd, the Heat will take on the Nashville Metros in Nashville. Both games are must win games for the club in order to make it into the playoffs.
As mentioned last week, the Laredo Heat controls their playoff destiny. With both the Austin Lightning and themselves having only three games left to finish off the season, either the Heat or the Lightning will represent the Mid-South Division in the post-season with division leader El Paso.
Heat Owner and Club President, Shashi Vaswani, said, "The players and coaches know what they have to do in order to get into the playoffs." Vaswani added, "As athletes, this is what they play for and I applaud them for putting themselves in a position to make the organization and the city proud."
In order to provide the team everything they need to win the remaining games and make a playoff run, the Heat organization welcomes former Heat Assistant Coach and Interim Head Coach Eddie Silva to the staff. Silva joins Head Coach Collazo, Assistant Coaches Jorge Canales and Mario Gonzales and Team Manager Max Cruz as an Assistant Coach on the Heat coaching staff.
Coach Silva is the currently the LBJ High School Varsity Soccer Coach and last year contributed in the building of the Laredo Heat in a responsible and praise worthy manner.
Head Coach Israel Collazo, mentioned, "Having four weeks between PDL action to rest players with injuries and having the opportunity to play both the Second Division Chivas and the Special Reserve Team of the Monterrey Tigres has really helped the team." Collazo also said, "The transition between Coach Jepsen and I has also been helped with the time off between PDL games."
The Laredo Heat Soccer Club would also like to take the opportunity to thank all of its supporters by announcing that everyone wearing red that attends the game this weekend between the Heat and Lightning will be admitted free into the SAC as a gesture of appreciation for the support given this season.
This Saturday also marks Doctors Hospital Night at the Heat/Lightning game and Doctors Hospital will be providing free health tests that include height, weight, fat and blood pressure screenings. Additionally, the Heat Organization and Doctors Hospital will be donating $50.00 to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Laredo for each goal scored by the Heat.
The Laredo Heat Soccer Club will be practicing from 6:00 PM until dusk on Tuesday, July 12th, Wednesday, July 13th and Thursday, July 14th and from 7:00 PM until dusk on Friday, July 15th at United Day School located across Doctors Hospital at San Isidro Parkway and McPherson Blvd.
For additional information on the Laredo Heat Soccer Club and complete game schedule and updates, please visit their web site at www.laredoheatsc.com .
