PATRIOTS WIN FINALE
El Paso Downs Mid-South Champions, 3-1, But Are
Eliminated from Playoff Contention
The El Paso Patriots did their part, but by the start of the second half of a 3-1 win over the Austin Aztex it was out of their hands.
The Laredo Heat’s 4-0 win over the New Orleans Shell Shockers in the Crescent City keeps the Heat on top of El Paso in the Mid-South Division standings by a single point. The Heat (8-4-4, 28 points) took their second place spot back from the Patriots (8-5-3, 27 points) with a 3-1 win in Laredo last Wednesday night.
Since interim head coach Javier McDonald took over the team in mid-season, El Paso has been a changed team, going 6-1-1 under their new coach’s leadership.
And the last win was a special send-off to over 1,000 Patriots fans who showed up despite a 30-minute deluge prior to the match – though the first few minutes were anything but special.
Austin’s Edgar Alvarez pounced on a miscue by El Paso’s back line in just the fourth minute of play. Three steps of the nearest defender after an Aztex through ball deflected of the Patriots defense, Alvarez went straight up the middle and beat goalkeeper Sebastián Narvaéz with a beautiful low shot that gave the visitors a surprise early lead.
But El Paso would answer in the 26th minute as forward Michael Griego was ruled to have been taken out of the play by Austin goalie Miguel Gallardo.
Referee Serdar Ertep’s whistle came after a short pause as he assessed whether Gallardo’s punishing foul was truly a deliberate attempt to keep Griego from scoring, in which case the keeper would have been ejected. But Gallardo was merely called for a foul, shown a caution and the Patriots were awarded a PK.
Team captain Hugo Sámano coolly beat Gallardo, his slow kick fooling the goalie into diving left as the ball rolled the other way.
Then, in the 40th minute, Griego lashed home a corner kick from Enrique Cervantes, heading the ball in at the near post for what proved to be the game-winning goal.
Griego found the net again as the Aztex pushed for the tying goal in the second half. António Barrera chipped into the area where Jaír Olivares first-timed a shot from left wing. Griego blazed in to make sure the rolling ball found its target in the 75th minute and El Paso’s fourth consecutive home win was assured.
Having won the Mid-South at the beginning of the month, Austin finishes at 10-5-1 with 31 points. They will face the yet-to-be-determined second place team from the Southeast Division in the Southern Conference playoffs next weekend. Laredo, the defending Premier Development League champions, will face the Southeast Division winners, the Central Florida Kraze, on the Kraze’s home field in Winter Park, FL.
Though it did not make the playoffs, El Paso looks forward to extending its run as the longest continuously operating franchise in the United States come 2009 – its 19th season of soccer in the Sun City.
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