Soccer season marked by frustrating losses in the state playoffs

This was one of those years when any number of South Texas high school boys soccer teams appeared strong enough to advance past the Region IV-5A Tournament in San Antonio to get to the UIL state tournament in Round Rock.

Unfortunately, it just didn't happen.

There was no shortage of good teams in Brownsville, the Rio Grande Valley as a whole, and even in Laredo.

But in soccer, sometimes, it's not enough just to be good. Sometimes, it takes a little good fortune, too.

At the end of the regular season, I really felt that Porter and Rivera were two Valley teams that had the best chance to do well in the postseason. Both of them had players with playoff experience and both had proven go-to scorers in Mario Perez of Porter and Alex Rios of Rivera. Both also had other players in their lineups who could be counted upon to score, and both were playing well defensively.

But anything can happen in the playoffs, and it did.

Rivera looked uncharacteristically vulnerable when the Raiders allowed a 2-0 lead to slip away in a 3-2 loss to Laredo LBJ and talented goal scorer Felix Garcia in the area playoffs on March 28 in Rio Grande City.

There are probably several reasons why the Raiders didn't make it past the second round of the playoffs. Injuries at different times during the season to key players Amir Sanchez and Jair Reyna certainly didn't help matters.

Porter seemed to be on a roll in the playoffs, beating PSJA Memorial 6-0 and Donna 3-1 before suffering a 1-0 shootout loss to equally talented La Joya in the regional quarterfinals at Sams Memorial Stadium on April 1.

The Cowboys had what they thought was a team capable of returning to state, and when their season ended against La Joya, the loss was pretty emotional. It was the same bitter disappointment that the Raiders had experienced against LBJ.

Things again looked dismal for Brownsville when Lopez fell behind against LBJ 2-0 in a regional quarterfinal in RGC, also on April 1. But then something remarkable took place as the Lobos upstaged Garcia's three goals and new state record (70 goals on the season) with four of their own in a dramatic 4-3 overtime victory over the Wolves.

After getting past Rivera, I could sense that LBJ was confident it would make it to the regional tournament. So when Lopez won with a late rally in OT, the Wolves took it pretty hard.

Then came the past weekend's regional tournament in the Alamo City.

If Lopez had played half as well as it did against LBJ in the second half and in OT, I really believe the Lobos would have at least made it to the regional final, and maybe even back to state. Instead, the Lobos bowed out of Friday's regional semifinals following a 1-0 loss in a shootout against San Antonio Reagan.

La Joya also had high hopes in San Antonio, but a 1-0 defeat on a second-half goal against longtime Valley nemesis San Antonio Churchill left the Coyotes feeling empty and frustrated as well.

The pride and euphoria of having a Brownsville team qualify for state each of the past four years was replaced this season by frustration and disappointment at the end.

There were quite a few sad endings for Valley teams this year, and for Laredo squads such as LBJ, too. Plenty of good teams went home early.

If anything, the soccer season just completed has given me a greater appreciation for what Lopez and Porter accomplished by winning state titles in 2004 and 2006, respectively, and for what Rivera achieved by advancing to state in 2005 and 2007.

FINAL TOP FIVE

Here are my lists of the final top five (actually six) Valley teams for boys and girls:

Boys - 1. (tie) Porter and La Joya, 2. Lopez, 3. Rivera, 4. Edinburg Economedes, 5. McAllen High.

Girls - 1. Harlingen South, 2. Edinburg North, 3. Sharyland, 4. McAllen High, 5. (tie) Pace and McAllen Rowe.