Sharyland High planned to run with fleet-footed Harlingen South during their bi-district battle Tuesday at Sharyland.
What they didn’t plan on was giving up a goal on a penalty kick following a hand ball in the box.
South’s Alexis Fonseca scored during the 13th minute to open the scoring and Harlingen South won its first bi-district title in “about five years” with a 3-0 blanking of Sharyland during girls playoff soccer action.
The Rattlers, the fourth seed in District 31-5A, didn’t back down from an athletic Hawks squad that looked like they were at a track meet more so than a soccer match.
Sharyland head coach Mario Ribera kept yelling to his squad, led by offensive machine Yhoalibeth Alvarez, to go long, hoping to play a version of hockey’s dump and chase. Being down a person, however, didn’t do any favors for the Rattlers and the Hawks’ defensive play against Alvarez kept her mostly out of the picture.
“We expected them to come in hard and hungry,” South head coach Debra Galvan said. “We knew (Alvarez) was their go-to and an amazing player. We prepared as best we could. They sent some long balls that kind of threw us but we adjusted.”
Galvan said scoring first was huge, especially for calming the nerves.
“It’s a big win for us, it hasn’t happened in a while,” she said. “We made a few adjustments, but we played collected and calm — it helps when you score first.
Sophia Jimenez made it 2-0 with 15:39 left in the first half, taking the ball in and then lobbing a beautiful touch shot into the back of the net.
“Sophia is a defender but we had moved her up because she’s very calm and collected,” Galvan said. “This is what we needed, playing a team like Sharyland and their different style. This is the playoffs, and teams are going to come in playing a whole different style. The girls had to want it more than them.
Kayren Vasquez scored the final goal in the second half.
Mutual red cards were issued to a player from each team as physical play turned into at least one slap/grab being thrown and officials and coaches rushing to the field to quickly end the scuffle.
Harlingen South, undefeated en route to the District 32-5A title, will play Corpus Christi Flour Bluff in the area round at a time and place still to be decided.
