Heat beats Nashville
Laredo blanks Metros; play tonight at the SAC
By NINO CARDENAS
LAREDO MORNING TIMES
The Heat were a man down on and off the field in their 5-0 thrashing of the Nashville Metros Friday at the Student Activity Center.
Laredo closes out the Tennessee portion of its home schedule today when they host the Memphis Express at 8:05 p.m.
Heat coach Eleazar "E.J." Jepsen was relegated to the skybox due to an incident in last weekend's game against the Mid-South Division leader El Paso Patriots.
His squad, however, maintained its focus after playing with a man down the last 14 minutes of the first half.
"The team played with a lot of effort. It's a little difficult to play without the head coach as they seemed a little disorganized at times, but I have enough faith in my players," Jepsen said.
Defender Wilson Bueso suffered a mild concussion at the 31st minute and according to league rules the injured player must get back into the action for Laredo to substitute.
Laredo was already nursing a 2-0 lead and played out the remainder of the half with nine men on the field.
Juan de Dios Ibarra opened the scoring by setting up his own scoring opportunity.
Ibarra found himself 12-yards out and with enough time to set up a low flying shot past Metros' goalie Kyle Roelke.
Ibarra became an integral part to the Heats' success, finishing with two goals and two assists.
Ibarra hit Jose Macias with a perfect pass in the 19th minute for the second goal of the game and Nicho Infante put his name on the stat sheet in the 44th minute with a 12-yard blast.
The Metros couldn't figure out how to beat Heat goalie Ryan Shaughnessy, who earned his fourth shutout of the season.
The Heat executed a precise fake after a dead ball foul attempt in the 66th minute.
With the ball placed on the top left edge of the Metros' penalty box, Jacob Downs proceeded to fake a shot only to have Ibarra send a center pass to a waiting Chuy Sanchez who extended the Heat lead.
The ball kept bouncing the Heat's way, as was the case in the 73rd minute when a Hector Vallejo shot on goal was deflected unto the feet of Infante, whom flicked the ball to Ibarra to close out the Laredo scoring.
Perhaps the busiest man on the field was referee Rudy Nino, who handed out five cards in the first half alone, he finished with eight total.
Receiving yellow cards for Laredo was Jerrod Idle, Wilson Bueso, Mark Vega, Hector Vallejo, Jose Rovelo and Ryan Harrison.
For the Metros it was Johan Martinez and Joey German.
