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Heat Advances to Semi-Finals

For the 1,457 fans in attendance the six minutes of compensation time dragged out ever so slowly.In the end, it was all worth it as the fans and players burst with cheers as referee Michael Brow blew the final whistle signaling the Laredo Heat's back-to-back championship of the Southern Conference.

A nerve racking 2-1 lead held up for the Laredo Heat who is hosting a Premier Development League semifinal next Saturday night at the Student Activity Complex.

The Heat players lined up along the sidelines thanking their fans before breaking out into a frenzy of celebration.

"It was an unbelievable game. Carolina is a very good team, it was all heart on our part," a joyous Heat owner hashi Vaswani said.

The Heat plays the winner of the Western Conference finals being disputed between the BYU Cougars and Fresno Fuego late Saturday night. Fresno led 1-0 at halftime.

The defending PDL champion Bucks beat the Chicago Fire 3-0 Saturday to advance and play the surprising Brooklyn Knights next weekend setting up a potential showdown of last season's finals between Laredo and Michigan.

The Cougars are the top-seeded team left in the playoffs after the regular season champions Hampton Roads Piranhas was shocked in penalty kicks by the Knights in the Eastern Conference semis Friday.

The regular season champ curse lives on as five of the past seven champions have fallen in the conference playoffs.

The Knights defeated the Cape Cod Crusaders 1-0 Saturday and play the Michigan Bucks in the PDL semifinals next weekend.

Isaac Morales cemented his status as his club's playoff MVP with another heads up play late in the game in the 74th minute after Felix Garcia bought his teammates some time by displaying some nifty footwork inside the Dynamo box allowing for Morales and company to come in aid of Garcia, just as the Dynamo stole the ball.

Morales kicked the sphere towards goal bouncing it off the chest of a Dynamo defender. He collected his own shot sidestepped two Dynamo defenders and sent the ball rolling to the far post and into the back of the net for his third goal of the playoffs.

"Some fans only got to see our final game; the truth is that we have played our hearts out in every single game. From the players to the organization, we're like a family and the team deserves this," teary eyed Morales said.

Morales displayed a different number on the back of his jersey Saturday, because his two-goal game worn jersey was mysteriously stolen on Friday. He didn't mind the new number.

''It's gratifying to be able to score and I thank God that it was my turn, but this is a labor from the whole team. Without my teammates these goals would've never happened," Morales said in Spanish.

The Dynamo organization takes full advantage of the Division I colleges in the surrounding area.

They feature player from the University of North Carolina, Wake Forest and North Carolina State.

With top level talent from across the nation the Dynamo also depended on their height advantage to try and muscle a solid Heat defense.

In an effort to counter the height Israel Collazo went with speed and technique in his line-up.

He moved Felix Garcia to his usual position as a striker and switched Dionisio "Nicho" Infante to the left midfield position.

The right side was loaded with speed with Hector "Gota"Vallejo, Juan de Dios Ibarra and Garcia applying the pressure.

The opening half began with the Dynamo coming close to beating out goalie Ryan Cooper and finished with Garcia with a flurry of shots towards the Dynamo goal.

Laredo became a bit more dependent on the long ball than usual, making their times just right and taking advantage of their speed.

The Heat's constant pressure through the right side finally made the Dynamo defense crack.

In the 48th minute Laredo was awarded a penalty kick that was converted by Juan de Dios Ibarra.

The celebration was short lived as Carolina tied the game six minutes later via a free kick.

Richard Jata sent a rocket from 25 yards to the right post that Heat goalie Cooper managed to reach. He couldn't quite keep control of the ball and the rebound was scooped by Mike Lahoud whose short range shot rattled the back of the net.

The Dynamo club applied most of its pressure in the opening minutes of the contest, working their way through a normally stout Heat defense.

For the majority of the constant the game was equally disputed with scoring chances coming few and far between.

Carolina's El Hadji Cisse began the contest with a nice play in the box in the fourth minute where he created some room and unleashed a roller that was leg kicked but Cooper.

The Heat's first viable play on goal came on a beauty of a play between Vallejo and Morales. Vallejo passed the ball to Morales who volleyed it back to Vallejo inside the box. Vallejo corralled the ball but sent it to the outer netting of goalies Brian Edwards net.

The Heat who were the de-facto visitors due to points were out shot by an 11 to eight margin.

Referee Brow though seemed to have given the Dynamo home treatment handing out five yellow cards to Laredo and only two to the Dynamo.