Lady Hawks nip Lady Cards in regular-season finale

HARLINGEN — Even though the Harlingen and Harlingen South girls soccer teams have both punched their tickets to the postseason and there was not a lot at stake in the district race, there was that little thing called bragging rights that played a huge factor on Friday.

The last time both teams faced each other, the Lady Hawks prevailed in a shootout victory and took a 1-0 lead at Harlingen High.

Well, the Lady Hawks, the District 31-5A champions, completed the sweep as they defeated their intracity rivals 1-0 Friday at Harlingen South in the season finale to keep their perfect district record entact.

The Lady Hawks will now wait a week and will face either Brownsville Rivera or Lopez in the playoffs while Harlingen will have to wait and see what seed it will end up.

"We had a few injuries that set us back but we played with a lot of heart," said Harlingen South assistant coach Amanda Cardenas, who took over for head coach Omar Pedroza after he left due to a family emergency.

"The kids took control and stepped it up when they had to. But I have to say Harlingen played extremely tough and came to play. Fortunately for us we brought our ‘A’ game."

Harlingen South struck first as Felicia Garza scored on an assist by Amanda Aguirre to take a 1-0 lead with 22:54 left in the first half.

Harlingen had a chance to tie it up at the 9:00 mark with a shot on goal, but Harlingen South goalie Sarah McNeil made a tremendous save.

The Lady Cardinals had their best opportunity to score as McNeil came out of the box area and the ball was rolling into the net at the 21 minute mark of the second half. However Lady Hawks defender Maddie Reyes just kicked it out of the net to maintain the shutout.

The Lady Hawks had quite a few chances to open the game up in the first and second half but just couldn’t get the ball into the net. In fact, there were a few shot on goals that just hit the top or the side of the crossbar.

"We had our chances to try and make shots tonight but I also have to give credit to Harlingen’s defense because they did a great job," said Cardenas.

Harlingen head coach Philip Oxford said that his team will now wait and see where they end up and who they will face in the postseason.

"We will have to wait and see what happens in the Edinburg games to see if we end up second, third, or fourth in our district," said Oxford. "Most likely we will place third and face Pace or Rivera in the first round."

"Overall I am pleased with the effort we put forth tonight and we held South to just one point. Maybe next time we will get them."