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PHARR, Texas - The playoffs of the South Texas Premier Soccer Association’s 18-and-Under Summer League are finally set after the inaugural regular-season came to an end on Saturday at the San Juan Municipal Park.
The teams that qualified to the semifinals are: Rattlers (8-1-1. 25 points), Tigers (7-1-2, 22), La Joya (6-2-2, 20) and Mission (6-1-3, 19).
The semifinals, which will be played as a single-game elimination, will pit Rattlers and Mission in the early morning matchup on May 20 at 9:30 a.m., while Tigers will face La Joya at 11:15 a.m. Both games will be played at San Juan Municipal Park.
Prior to the start of the playoffs, the Summer League All-Star team will play the second-leg of the inaugural Interleague All-Star Game series on Aug. 16 at 7 p.m. at Valley View Stadium in Hidalgo. The stadium is located on Jackson Rd. and Hi Line.
Rattlers concluded the regular season with 1-all draw against Indios (5-3-2, 18), who had one foot in the postseason after the tie. However, Mission’s 3-1 victory over San Benito in the Week 10 regular-season finale left Indios out of the playoffs and the Mission squad as the fourth and last playoff team.
Defender Romel Lozano surprised the league leading Rattlers in the 39th minute to give Indios a 1-0 lead. It was Rattlers striker Daniel García who equalized the match in the 60th minute to walk away with a point from the game.
García’s goal tied him with the Indios’ Ricky Vargas for the goal-scoring championship with seven tallies apiece.
Meanwhile, Mission arrived at the field looking for one thing: a playoff berth. And that’s what they accomplished on strikes by César Iván Ibáñez (15’), Erick Soto (38’) and Aldo Sánchez (60’) despite starting the match with only eight players.
Rolando Rivas scored San Benito’s (4-1-5, 13) lone goal in the 70th minute.
In the other Saturday matchup, Potros (3-1-6, 10) finished out the season with a 3-1 victory over La Joya on tallies by Blue Magdaleno (30’), Mauro Martínez (50’) and Paúl Lingán (75’). League All-Star team player Jonathan Mata temporarily equalized the game at 1-1 in the 39th minute for La Joya.
Earlier in the week, the Tigers defeated Indios 2-0 in a makeup game. José Aranda and Rigoberto Hernández scored for the Tigers to solidify their second place finish.
