Laredo Prepares for Opening Round of Playoffs
Written by Post Public Information Representative, Jul 28, 2010, 0 Comments
Courtesy Vanessa Guajardo,
Southern Conference Championship Set for Jackson, MS
The Laredo Heat Soccer Club (9 – 5 – 2, 29 points) will open up the 2010 Southern Conference Championship Tournament in Jackson, MS on the campus of Millsaps College versus a familiar opponent in the Baton Rouge Capitals (9 – 2 – 3, 30 points). Kick-off is set for 5:00 P.M. at Harper Davis Field on Friday, July 30th.
It was just two short years ago that all four participants in the 2010 Southern Conference Championship Tournament were members of the Mid-South Division.
This year, the Houston Leones will be joining the Heat in the playoffs, their first in franchise history, as the runner-up from the Mid-South Division. From the Southeast Division, Baton Rouge is joined by the division champion Mississippi Brilla.
Last season, the United Soccer Leagues (USL) made the move to make the Premier Development League’s (PDL) Mid-South Division into an all Texas division and both the Mississippi Brilla and Baton Rouge Capitals, along with the New Orleans Jesters (formally the Shell Shockers), were transplanted to the Southern Conference’s Southeast Division.
The race for the Southern Conference title will conclude on Sunday, August 1st at 7:00 P.M. with the winner from the Laredo Heat and Baton Rouge Capital match taking on the winner of the Mississippi Brilla and Houston Leones game being played immediately after the Heat / Capitals clash on Friday.
The Southern Conference Champion will then have to make plans to play the following weekend in the PDL’s Final Four Championship Weekend (site to be announced) versus the Western Conference, Central Conference and Eastern Conference Champions.
The other final 12 teams entering this weekend’s conference championships are:
Eastern Conference: Reading United AC (Pennsylvania), Ironbound Express (New Jersey), Ottawa Fury (Canada) and the MPS Portland Phoenix (Maine).
Central Conference: Michigan Bucks (Detroit), Forest City London (Canada), Thunder Bay Chill (Canada) and the Rochester Thunder (Minnesota).
Western Conference: Portland Timbers U-23 (Oregon), Kitsap Pumas (Washington), Ventura County Fusion (California) and the Hollywood United Hitmen (California)
The Ventura County Fusion is the defending 2009 PDL Champions.
“The single elimination format of the PDL’s playoffs is tough for all the participants. We have been fortunate in our short history to have played in three PDL Championship games the past five years, winning it all in 2007, but last season we were on the wrong end dropping our playoff opener to the Bradenton Academics at home.” said Heat General Manager J.J. Vela.
“This past regular season has hopefully prepared us well in order to compete versus the best teams that remain in the PDL playoffs and if all goes as planned in Jackson, we can once represent the Southern Conference in the Finals.”
Vela added, “But first things first and from what we have seen and heard of the Baton Rouge Capitals, this first game will be a challenge from the opening whistle.”
“The new ownership and management group set in place in Baton Rouge has done great job of accomplishing their goal of making the playoffs that they set for themselves prior to opening their 2010 campaign.”
“We will be up to the task on hand on Friday for what should be a great soccer match to open the Southern Conference Championships. Coach Collazo and his staff as well as the players have had a great season that included several challenges as well as highs and lows that taught us lessons that prepared us for the post-season,” concluded Vela.
News from Around the Pitch
As the Heat prepare to head out to Mississippi, the club announced the players chosen as their Regular Season MVP’s. The players, coaching staff and administration were all involved in the voting and the winners were announced on Tuesday evening. Esteban Bayona and Felix Garcia garnered the same amount of votes and were both named Offensive MVP’s. On the other end, Defensive MVP, the player that ran away with the votes was Center Back Angel “Bambi” Hernandez. Bayona and Garcia have played with the Heat over the past four years and both have been instrumental in the success of the team. Hernandez is a first year player that has made an impact on the Heat’s backline.
For additional information on the Laredo Heat Soccer Club, please visit our website at www.laredoheatsc.com or call the Heat office at 723 – 4700.
