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Heat ties in Mississippi

The Laredo Heat Soccer Club (10 - 2 - 4, 16 GP / 34 points) and the expansion Mississippi Brilla (6 - 5 - 5, 16 GP / 23 points) played to a 3 - 3 tie on the campus of Millsap College in Jackson, MS.

With each team scoring three goals, one would think that the game was a back and forth affair; however, the contest was very different to that assumption.

The Heat went up 1 - 0 in the 9th minute of the match on an own goal by the Mississippi club. A few minutes later, in the 21st, Nicho Infante found Josh Fender dashing up the middle of the field and Fender found the back of the net. Once Fender got a hold of the ball, he knew what to do with it. With Fender's goal, the Heat were up 2 - 0 early in the game.

In the latter part of the first half, Juan de Dios Ibarra took a 20 yard free kick that went passed the outstretched hands of the Brilla net-minder. The Ibarra shot made the game 3 - 0 in the 43rd minute and that is how the first half ended.

With the Heat in the locker room with the comfortable lead, and as mentioned before, already having clinched a playoff birth, Heat Assistant Coach Marco Salazar went ahead with Head Coach Israel Collazo's instructions to give all six available substitutes the opportunity to play.

At this point, the Heat, maybe feeling a little comfortable with the 3 - 0 lead gave up the first of three Brilla goals seven minutes into the 2nd half. At the 57th minute, the inspired Mississippi club once again found the way to get sphere passed the Heat to make a game of what seemed to be a blowout by visiting Gateway City club.

From this point forward, the match became a chess match with the Heat trying their best to hold of the Brilla attack and at the same time, doing their best to get their 1st half mojo back and maybe even get another goal to seal the win.

But it was not to be the case. In the 85th minute, the Brilla caught a break inside the 18 yard box when the center referee awarded them a penalty kick. The Brilla took full advantage of the penalty and knocked the ball passed Heat back-up goalkeeper Jorge Zamora to tie the game up at three goals a piece.

Neither team was able to add to the score for the remaining five minutes of the game nor to the four supplemental minutes added at the end of the match.

Cautions Issued (Heat):

Juan de Dios Ibarra

Ryan Cooper

Hector “Gota” Vallejo

Felix Garcia

Greg Mulamba

The Heat will be departing Jackson, MS this evening and will travel overnight to Laredo. They should be arriving home on Sunday by late Sunday morning or early Sunday afternoon.

Southern Conference News:

Two of the three remaining Southern Conference teams have already punched their tickets for next week's conference tournament in Laredo. By virtue of a 3 - 0 win over the Nashville Metros, the Carolina Dynamos will be headed to Laredo as the Southeastern Division Champions and they will be meeting the Mid-South Division Runner-Up El Paso Patriots. The Patriots are headed to Laredo due to a late 92nd minute goal against the New Orleans Shell Shockers that gave them a 2 - 1 victory. The first match between the Carolina Dynamo and El Paso Patriots will start at 5:30 PM at the Student Activity Center.

By Sunday evening, we should know who the second place team from the Southeastern Division will meet the Heat in the tournament. A win by the Central Florida Kraze over the Palm Beach Pumas and they are in; however, if the Kraze tie or lose to the Pumas, the Atlanta Silverbacks will head to Laredo for the 8:30 PM match against the Heat.

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.