West Texas FC Hands the Heat Its Worst Loss of the 2024 Campaign

Laredo, TX (Wednesday, July 10, 2024) – The Laredo Heat SC concluded its 20th anniversary season Wednesday, July 10th in Midland as it fell 5-1 on the road in the NPSL’s Lone Star Conference semifinals against West Texas FC, the regular-season champion of the conference.

Mere Escobar scored the lone goal for the Heat in the 86th minute. An interception and a centering pass delivered the ball to Escobar 15 yards out in the center of the box, and he one-timed the cross into the lower-right corner to put Laredo on the board.

Laredo (5-4-2) was the last team to beat West Texas FC (8-2-1), winning 2-0 at home on June 8th at PEG Energy Stadium.

Since then, West Texas has been on a dominant tear winning each of its past six matches. It has showcased an efficient offense in that stretch, scoring at least four goals in all six matches while outscoring opponents 29-7.

Heat goalkeeper Luis Avelar saw his first action of the season subbing in for Adrian Gallardo midway through the first half after West Texas took a 3-0 lead. Avelar started strong making a point-blank save on a breakaway to keep Laredo within striking distance.

Unfortunately, West Texas extended its lead to 4-0 late in the half and added to its advantage early in the second half.

It was a tale of two halves for the Heat this year as they started with an unbeaten 4-0-1 first half of the regular season while outscoring opponents 13-6. The second half of the regular season started with their first loss falling 1-0 at Denton, and that began a 1-4-1 stretch to conclude the season while getting outscored 11-7.

Laredo was at its best playing at the new PEG Energy Stadium going 3-1-1 and outscoring opponents 11-6. The team finished 2-3-1 on the road while getting outscored 12-9.

West Texas advances to host the Lone Star Conference Championship on Saturday. It will face the Denton Diablos FC (6-3-2) which won 3-2 in extra time on the road against FC Brownsville (6-2-3) in the other semifinal match.

Visit youtube.com/@LaredoHeatSC for live streams of the Heat’s matches. For ticket information and to stay up to date on all things Laredo Heat, visit laredoheatsc.com, follow @laredoheatsc on all major social media platforms or email Vaswanifamily@about-time.com.