Heat edged in overtime; Roma FC wins in Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup


By NINO CARDENAS, LAREDO MORNING TIMES
06/15/2006

Penalty kicks haven’t been kind to the Laredo Heat this season and Wednesday night was no different.The Roma Football Club of Dallas edged the Laredo Heat in penalty shots in the first round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup on a hot night at the Student Activity Complex.

Roma outscored Laredo 4-2 in penalty kicks for a 6-4 combined goal win.

This is Laredo’s second loss in penalty kicks in the season. It dropped its friendly contest against the Special Reserve team of the Chivas de Guadalajara.

“Sadness,” a drained Israel Collazo said following the loss. “The team made a great effort and I am extremely proud of them. This team is still going to make Laredo soccer history, but it was our turn to lose.” The two teams were tied 1-1 in regulation and 2-2 after two overtime periods.

The game was played before 894 excited fans. Both teams played toe-to-toe with the Heat taking the lead twice in 120 minutes of play.

“Our boys played well against a team stacked with talent. Sometimes the ball doesn’t bounce your way and we haven’t had much luck in penalty shots over the years. It’s something that the coaching staff is going to work on from now until the playoffs,” team owner Shashi Vaswani added.

Laredo drew first blood scoring a goal by Ernesto Contreras on a perfectly heel tap assist from Hector Vallejo.

The Dallas-based Roma Football Club scored in the 50th minute of the second half by a goal by Brad Flanagan.

Both teams had to dig deep in the overtime periods.

Laredo went ahead in first minute of the second overtime on a great individual effort by Arnoldo Presas.

Presas found himself on a one-one-one situation on the right side of the penalty box. With no Laredo player in sight, he bought some time and played his way into the box and towards the endline, before riffling a center to a driving Vallejo. The jumping Vallejo redirected the pass with his knees past the Wolves goalie. Presas is the former United High star.

With four minutes left, Roma silenced the crowd and knotted the game.

Roma found an open Kellan Zindel down the left side of the field. Zindel drove the ball deeper into the Heat area before finding John Calandro for the equalizer.

“I am disappointed that in such a huge soccer community not more fans came. I believe we showed that we bring a high level of soccer. I’m truly disappointed that we are not going to have Miami FC come to us,” Vaswani said.

Roma FC moves on to play Miami in the second round.

Laredo has no time to ponder this loss, since the Heat, 7-0 in the PDL, play the Austin Lightning Friday and Saturday in Austin during the regular PDL season.

“Its time to regroup and start thinking about the league. After 120 minutes of play it won’t be easy to play Friday and Saturday,” Vaswani said.

©Laredo Morning Times 2006