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Pats rally past Heat
05/12/2007
The Laredo Heat learned Friday night the aggressor can become the victim in a split second at the Student Activity Complex in front of 906 fans.Not only were the three Premier Development League points at stake, but a win gave the club a much needed leg up for the U.S Lamar Hunt Open Cup qualifier.
After dominating the field against the El Paso Patriots (2-1, 6 points) for much of the contest a series of miscues gave the Patriots a 2-1 win.
The teams clash again tonight at the SAC with an 8:05 p.m. kick-off.
El Paso’s wining score came via the leg of Geraldo Moreria, who’s picture-perfect blast from the top right corner of the box went past a diving Ryan Cooper in the 77th minute.
“I honestly feel that we were the better team out there today, but they had two terrific shots that ended up in the back of the net,” Heat President Shashi Vaswani said.
“That’s soccer. We have to move on and concentrate on the rest of the games. I’m sure we’ll be back with a vengeance tomorrow,” Vaswani added.
The irony he pondered was that Laredo handed the Patriots a 2-1 loss at their place in an U.S. Open Cup qualifier last season.
“Nature always seems to balance itself,” he said.
With some history between the two clubs, the game took a physical turn early in the contest.
The game was filled with hard tackles and hits throughout the 90 minutes, keeping referee Greg Boles busy. He dealt six yellow cards, three to each team.
The Laredo Heat (1-1, 3 points) got on the scoreboard first with a put back by Dionisio “Nicho” Infante in the 27th minute.
The score came about after a free kick from Juan de Dios Ibarra, who crashed into a couple of Patriots and landed on the feet of Hector “La Gota” Vallejo.
Vallejo zeroed in on a streaking Ibarra who ripped Vallejo’s pass towards El Paso goalie Jorge Muñiz. The ball proved to hard to handle for Muñiz, who deflected the sphere with his chest into the waiting foot of Infante.
The Patriots tied the game in the 50th minute on a blast from Victor Mora from the left top box.
Head Coach Israel Collazo wasn’t afraid to dip into the bench as a carrousel of Heat players got some minutes following the tie.
One of his substitutions was Leone Cruz, who in the 46th minute appeared to have been tackled inside the box after fooling a couple of defenders, but referee Boles declared the play clean.
The Patriots failed to ice the game in the 80th minute when another breakdown in the midfield allowed Jorge Briones to dribble the ball well into Cooper’s area, forcing him to leave his post.
With the net wide open Briones centered the ball to a waiting Antonio Barrera whose header sailed safely above the crossbar.
Cruz had Laredo’s last chance to find the equalizer on a header attempt in the extra time that landed directly in the hands of goalie Muñiz.
Laredo was in control for the majority of the second half before a flurry of shots by the Patriots in the final minutes, giving both teams a total of 10 shots on goal.
The flow was sluggish early on with El Paso creating the first scoring opportunity on a series of loose shots.
The Heat knocked on Muñiz’s door in the 20th minute when a Raul Quiñones shot sailed over the crossbar.
Laredo opted to go with size up front in the beginning and started 6-4 newcomer Josh Fender and Dionisio “Nicho” Infante at the forward position while leaving the Heat’s speedsters in Vallejo and Ibarra to help direct the offensive flow from the midfield.
Collazo changed the strategy in the second half, substituting Fender for defenseman Jacob Almack and moving Vallejo up front.
Collazo then inserted LBJ standout Felix Garcia to pair up with Infante and added United’s Arnoldo Presas as an attacking mid-fielder.
©Laredo Morning Times 2007