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PHARR, Texas - Although tropical storm Don decipitated after hitting land fall in the Rio Grande Valley on Friday evening, several of the teams of the South Texas Premier Soccer Association’s Summer League have created a storm of their own in the last half of the season.
With a pair of weeks remaining in the inaugural 18-and-Under league season, most of the teams still have their playoff hopes alive and kicking in the race for the four spots available, and it sets the table for a wild finish to the season.
While the league-leading Rattlers (6-0-1, 18 points) had a bye this weekend, the Tigers took advantage of their layoff and defeated Mission 2-0 on Saturday at San Juan Municipal Park field to reclaim first place after improving to a 6-1-2 record for 19 points.
The Hidalgo-based Tigers were led by a pair of tallies by José Ángel Soto and some key saves by goalkeeper Javier Olvera.
With the loss to the Tigers, Mission (5-1-3, 16) dropped to third place in the league standings with a game left to play. Mission will have a bye next weekend and could use the rest to prepare for their season finale against San Benito on Aug. 13, which could have playoff implications.
Meanwhile, one of the clásicos of La Joya was played out at San Juan’s Municipal Park, where La Joya downed España 4-1 to improve to 5-1-1 for 16 points on the season, and hold onto the fourth place spot.
César Rodríguez scored twice, while Jonathan Mata and Alexis Trejo each notched a goal in the victory. José Escareno scored for España.
Both teams were left with one less player on the field after the ejection of two players for double cautions.
At the Donna soccer fields, San Benito (3-1-3, 10) recovered from a Week 7 loss by rallying from a one-goal deficit to defeat Potros 3-1, while Indios beat Hormigas.
Potros (2-1-5, 7) jumped out in front with a quick 1-0 lead after Edgar Salas opened the scoring in just the fifth minute of play, and the McAllen-based squad held onto to the slim lead through halftime.
Ricardo Camacho equalized the match at 1-all in the 61st minute and Rolando Ramírez tallied the go-ahead goal for the Lower Valley team in the 70th. Raúl Muñiz notched an insurance goal in the 80th minute.
In the leading goal-scoring category, Ricky Vargas of the Indios took over the lead with seven goals after tallying a hat-trick against the Hormigas. Vargas is followed by Rigoberto Hernández of the Tigers and Luis Gómez of the Rattlers, who have five tallies apiece. Four players are tied with four goals: Edgar García of La Joya, César Ibáñez and Aldo Sánchez of Mission and Daniel García of the Rattlers.
For more information on the STXPSA or league registration for the upcoming Fall season, call (956) 212-5750.
