Banner day Brownsville at BISD tourney

On a cold but relatively rain-free day, Brownsville schools Pace, Hanna and Rivera all won matches in Thursday’s opening round of the annual Brownsville ISD Girls Soccer Tournament.

The three-day, 16-team event runs through Saturday when the third-place and championship games will be played at Sams Memorial Stadium at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m., respectively.

Fields at all five of the city’s public high schools also are being used for the tournament.

On Thursday, Pace defeated Raymondville 6-0, Hanna downed Mercedes 3-0 and Rivera routed Eagle Pass 8-1.

The Viqueens’ victory was overshadowed by what initially appeared to be a serious injury to one of its players. Pace coach Valentin Mata said Melissa Jimenez was going for the ball midway through the second half, collided with a Raymondville player and fell to the ground. He said she was at least momentarily unconscious, could not answer questions and had trouble moving her extremities. The game was stopped for approximately 45 minutes before an ambulance took her to the hospital.

Jimenez’s exact condition was not immediately known, but later in the day, Mata said the injured player was speaking and moving her extremities.

“When a player goes down like that, it’s tough,” said Mata, whose team led 3-0 when Jimenez suffered the injury. “Of course, the weather played a part in it. I told the team that we would just have to play through it, and luckily, we were able to. Considering the circumstances, I thought our girls played about as well as they could have played.”

Scoring goals for Pace were Brenda Davila, Karla Lozano, Maleny Delgado, Maggie Rios, Kirash Salas and Myrna Casillas.

In Hanna’s win over Mercedes, Tina Gaytan tallied a pair of goals and Valeria Vasquez added one.

In Rivera’s victory over Eagle Pass, Ivette Lopez and Shantal Cruz each had a pair of goals while teammates Nena Villarreal, Yhaijara Zavala, Jennifer Caraveo and Samantha de la Garza each added a goal.

Also in Thursday’s opening round, Weslaco East edged Eagle Pass CC Winn 1-0, Edinburg North pre-vailed over Weslaco High 2-1, PSJA North defeated Rio Grande City 4-1, PSJA High topped Porter 5-1 and McAllen High survived Lopez 3-2.

In today’s 3 p.m. championship quarterfinals, it’s Pace vs. Weslaco East at Pace, Hanna vs. PSJA North at Hanna, Rivera vs. Edinburg North at Rivera and PSJA High vs. McHi at Porter.

San Antonio Antonian defeated Sharyland 2-0 in last year’s BISD final.