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Thursday, June 14, 2007 (Laredo, TX):

The Laredo Heat Soccer Club (5 – 1 – 3 / 18 Points) leaves the friendly confines of the Student Activity Complex and heads to our state capital for a Friday match-up versus the Austin Lightning (3 – 4 – 1 / 10 Points). The game is slated to start at 7:30 PM at Valley Ridge High School in Cedar Park, Texas.

The Heat is currently sitting on top of the Mid-South Division, just one point ahead of the El Paso Patriots and the Lightning are in fourth place in the division.

The Lighting are returning home after a very tough out of town trip last weekend that saw them lose two games versus both Mid-South expansion teams Baton Rouge and Mississippi Brilla. On Friday, they dropped a heart-breaker to the Baton Rouge Capitals by a score of 3 – 2 and then on Saturday, the Mississippi Brilla blanked the Lightning 2 – 0.

“It won’t be a secret that the Lightning would like to get a win at home versus the Heat and give the division leaders a dent in their armor per say and create more havoc within the division” said Heat GM J.J. Vela. The Heat GM added, “The team better be clicking on all cylinders when they play the Lightning as points are starting to get precious now that we have completed over half of our season”. Vela concluded, “I don’t want to sound redundant; however, Coach Collazo, his coaching staff and the players know what is at stake at this point of the season and it should be very clear in their minds what they need to do in order to accomplish our first goal of the season, that of making the PDL playoffs”.

The Heat on the other hand are headed to Austin after going 3 – 0 – 1 since their last encounter with the Capital City team on Friday, May 25th and after a very physical match and tough win against the New Orleans Shell Shockers at home this past weekend that saw several yellow cards issued to Laredo club and one red card to 16 year old Felix Garcia.

The Heat will be without the services of Garcia for the game in Austin since Garcia will have to serve a one game suspension issued by the United Soccer League (USL) on Wednesday, June 13, 2007. The speedy and agile Garcia has been providing the Heat with excellent minutes coming off the bench late in games and Heat Head Coach Israel Collazo will have to look for another option in Austin come Friday.

The Heat will be heading out to Austin on Thursday, June 14th after practicing at United Day School from 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM that same day.

Mid South Division News

In other news from the Mid-South Division, the El Paso Patriots advanced into the Second Round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Tournament by beating USL First Division team, Miami FC (for the complete story, see http://www.uslsoccer.com/usopencup/matchreports/188123.html ) on Tuesday, June 12th in El Paso. The Patriots will be taking on the Charleston Battery in two weeks in Charleston, South Carolina. The Battery also plays in the USL’s First Division. Before the Patriots head to South Carolina, they will have a play date with the Heat in El Paso on Saturday, June 23rd that will be pivotal in terms of division standings for both teams.

For additional information on the Laredo Heat Soccer Club, please visit our website at www.laredoheatsc.com or call the Heat office at 723 – 4700.