Late goal crushes La Joya

SAN ANTONIO - San Antonio Churchill coach Steve Zimmerman knew the feeling. As he composed himself after a tough 1-0 win over La Joya in a regional semifinal, Zimmerman took a brief look at the dejected Coyotes. And it was obvious that more than a part of him felt bad for La Joya.

"It's tough, there's no words to describe it," said Zimmerman, whose team had been eliminated in this round the previous two seasons. "You can't say anything to make it better. It's just one of those things where you look at what you did this year. One game doesn't determine your season. They had a great season and getting to this point is an accomplishment itself."

La Joya coach Ronny Cabrera was trying to convince his players that that was indeed true, that there was no reason to allow their loss to linger with them. But, for at least a few minutes after the final buzzer, it looked like Cabrera had some work to do.

More than one Coyote tried to hide his tears, either by wiping them away from their eyes or covering their faces with a jersey or towel. A few of them went down to the grass at Blossom Athletic Center in dejection, overcome with frustration or sadness.

Cabrera, though, wasn't sharing his players' emotions.

"I'm so proud of the La Joya kids who showed and represented the Valley the way it's supposed to be," Cabrera said. "We tried. Humanly, we tried. But after that, we can't do anything else."

While the Coyotes cannot be accused of not trying, there was one costly play where they could be accused of letting up on defense. With 21:58 left, Churchill's Nick Cukjati scored from just outside the 18-yard box. Cukjati received a pass from teammate Matt Ealy, who was able to run through the Coyotes' defense.

That goal broke up what was an otherwise clogged up game, and even with more than 20 minutes left, felt like a game-winner.

"It was a mistake. We didn't mark, we let him shoot," Cabrera said. "I thought we were controlling the game, controlling the game to the point where we could take them to the overtime and all that.

"What can I say, that's soccer. If you make a mistake and they capitalize, that's going to be it."

Unfortunately for the Coyotes, that indeed was it for them. In the final 20 minutes, La Joya didn't threaten the Chargers' goal, assuring the end of the Coyotes' season.

"We're not disappointed, absolutely not. We're proud of what we did. We're a good team," senior midfielder Jose Nebrete said about a squad which finished second in District 30-5A and eliminated Brownsville Porter and Edinburg Economedes. "We didn't do as much as we thought we could do, but it doesn't matter. We're still satisfied with what we did.

"We are sad, we are disappointed but at the same time we have that hunger for winning. But, it will take us a while to recover from this."   

Brian Sandalow covers high school soccer for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4436.