SOC: Center kickers split district openers
night's home match against Hudson. The Lady Riders fell 2-0. (Photo
by John Krueger)
After entering District 35-4A play with a pair of losses and two cancelled games, the Center Roughrider soccer team needed a lift Tuesday night. They received it when they went on the road and received three goals by senior Eduardo Chavez in a league-opening 4-2 victory over Hudson.
The Center Lady Riders hoped for the same kind of effort at home, but couldn't take advantage of scoring opportunities in the opening half and then dropped a 2-0 decision to the Lady Hornets here at a cold Roughrider Stadium.
With the opening of league play welcomed by frigid temperatures near freezing, the Roughriders went on the road and played well early, building a 3-0 advantage at the half and then coasted from there.
"It was a great way to begin district play," said 'Riders Head Coach Richard Ruiz. "The kids played very well, taking advantage of opportunities in the first half and putting the ball in the net. That's what you have to do when you get to district play; score when the opportunities present themselves and then play good defense. We did that tonight.
"Hopefully getting off to a positive start in district play will carry over and we can continue to perform well against Diboll on Friday."
After blanking Hudson in the first half, the Roughriders were caught off guard when Hudson scored on a corner kick in the second half. The Hornets also added a second goal on a penalty shot.
Center's Felipe Parra added a fourth goal of the game for CHS as the Roughriders improved their season record to 3-4 and now stand at 1-0 in District 35-4A action.
The 'Riders will return to league play Friday night when they host Diboll. The junior varsity will start the action at Roughrider Stadium at 5:30 p.m., with the varsity getting underway about 7 p.m.
The Center junior varsity boys were also victorious over Hudson, slapping the Hornets by a 7-0 count.
Center's Lady Riders found the going tough early on and wasn't able to finish when opportunities presented themselves as they were blanked 2-0 at home.
"We just missed opportunities to score and it cost us the game," said Lady Rider Head Coach Jonathan Vick. "When you're in tight games, especially like this one was, you have to take advantage of every opportunity to score. It just seemed as if they were the aggressor out there tonight and we weren't. We had chance to put the ball in the goal, one time from point-blank range. But instead of putting the ball in the goal we allowed them to keep the momentum.
"Then we played most of the second half at their end of the field and it made it tougher to score. But I thought Raquel Hernandez did a great job in goal. She stopped a lot of opportunities and gave us chances in the second half with some great hustle."
Hudson took a 1-0 lead about a minute into the game when a penalty kick hit the crossbar and bounced in front of the goal where it was knocked in by another Lady Hornet player.
The scored remained the same until the 8:35 mark of the second half when the Lady Hornets crossed a scoring opportunities from right to left, a shot from the left side hit the cross bar and a rebounded shot got past Hernandez for a 2-0 lead. Center couldn't overcome.
Center fell to 2-5 on the year, 0-1 in District 35-4A play as the Lady Riders try to bounce back Friday night with a 6 p.m. league match in Diboll.