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Heat drops friendly game

By Jason Mack, Laredo Morning Times, 07/07/18, 9:15AM CDT

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With the pressure of perfection off its back, the Laredo Heat Soccer Club had an opportunity to empty the bench and prepare for the postseason Friday at TAMIU’s Dustdevil Field. The Heat welcomed the Monterrey Rayados U20 team in a friendly and fell 1-0 with a first-half penalty kick proving the difference.

"We got to see a good team that moves the ball well, and losing 1-0, it was good to even taste that," Laredo Heat head coach Dana Taylor said. "I forgot what losing felt like. We’re going into single-game elimination here. It was a little bit of a wake-up call. And we still had a lot of guys out today that we didn’t play."

The Heat were coming off a 1-0 victory Tuesday in their regular-season finale against the Fort Worth Vaqueros. Laredo already had the top seed in the Lone Star Conference locked up, but the victory over the second-place Vaqueros (6-2-2) secured a perfect 10-0-0 season, the first perfect season in franchise history. It also kept the Heat alive or the top overall seed in the 98-team National Premier Soccer League.

Laredo maintained a strong defensive presence despite sitting several players and rotating through several more with 20 players taking the field. The Heat have not allowed more than one goal in any game this season and have outscored opponents 20-2 in six home games.

"It was a good blend of everything," Taylor said. "We got touches for the guys that needed it, rest for guys that needed it and game experience for guys that hadn’t had as much experience. It was win-win-win. We got to experience the other side of it that sometimes you forget when you have a 10-0 season. We’re thankful for a little bit of a wake-up call."

One of the players resting Friday was defender Christian Roman who was injured and left in the 16th minute Tuesday with what was feared to be a potentially serious injury. The Heat received good news that it was only an ankle sprain. His availability for Wednesday’s playoff opener is up in the air, but Taylor said he is progressing well and they will see where he is at next week after resting.

Scoring chances were hard to come by for both teams early in the game. A steal from Heat forward and United South graduate Johan Portales set up a shot by forward Eduardo Martinez that went wide left in the 8th minute. The Rayados had the first big opportunity in the 13th minute as goalie Carlos Herrera knocked away a point-blank shot by Jacobo Reyes Murillo. Monterrey had an opportunity on the rebound, but a shot bounced down off the cross bar and stayed just in front of the goal line.

After a throw in three minutes later, Martinez got behind the defense but saw the pass go just too high for his header attempt. He had another header attempt come much closer in the 20th minute as he fired a cross from Jose Luis Hincapie just left. Hincapie set up another chance in the 27th minute with a pass up to the right as Joao Monteiro, who scored the lone goal in Tuesday’s win, had a shot on goal deflected to the right.

Eric Cantu got behind the defense in the 35th minute, but Heat defender Jacob Pacheco caught up just in time for a clean tackle in the box. Defender Dejue Johnson had a steal two minutes later and sprinted up the left side for a shot attempt. It was deflected wide to set up a corner kick, but the goalie grabbed the cross to quickly end the chance.

The Rayados broke up the shutout a couple minutes later when Herrera knocked Juan Machado down just right of the net. Machado was awarded a penalty kick and beat Herrera with a shot to the right for a 1-0 advantage.

Monteiro headed the ball past the goalie in the 63rd minute, but a Rayados defender was in position to clear it way. Laredo had another chance a minute later off a steal from Hincapie. Defender Younes Boudadi got in position for a cross on a give-and-go with Monteiro, but the goalie broke up the play.

Hincapie sent a free kick over the net in the 78th minute. Four minutes later he fired a cross off a pass from Monteiro, but it was cleared out. The Heat had a few more scoring chances in the closing minutes. After a free kick in the 87th minute, Monteiro fed defender Tor Trosten for a shot to the lower left corner that was saved. Another free kick two minutes later was deflected out, and Hincapie had a header from the left side saved in extra time.

"It was good in the sense that a lot of guys got a chance to play a high-level team and get some minutes underneath their belt," Taylor said. "I felt happy for them that they were part of it. It was good for some of our other guys too because they got a chance to get 45 in and stay sharp. Other teams are going to get 90 in Saturday in a hard game, so I wanted to go a little easier on them."

The Heat return to action Wednesday at 8 p.m. hosting their match in the NPSL Lone Star Conference semifinals. Their opponent will be determined Saturday as the No. 3-6 seeds compete in the quarterfinals with the lowest-remaining seeding heading to Laredo next.

Laredo will also be keeping an eye on regular-season finales in other conferences in the NPSL to determine seeding at the top of the league. The FC Motown Celtics and New York Cosmos B are both 9-0-0 and attempting to match the Heat’s perfect regular season. Motown is up 36 to 33 on Laredo in goal differential while New York sits at plus-28. Regardless of Saturday’s outcomes, Laredo’s worst-case scenario would be traveling for one playoff matchup deep in the bracket.

"I’m going to be watching all the games," Taylor said. "It’s important to get an idea of who our opponent will be and what our opponent is doing. There’s a pretty good chance it will be Fort Worth if everything holds true, but we’ll be ready for whoever. We’ll go back to the drawing board, get ourselves sharp and get everybody on the same page. We’ll make sure we’re ready to go to war together Wednesday."

jmack@lmtonline.com

Twitter: @jmacklmt