Friday, July 26, 2013
AUSTIN, Texas -- The Austin Aztex (12-1-2) continued their strong form at House Park and defeated the Panama City Beach Pirates 4-0 Friday evening in front of 2,481 fans.
The Aztex advance to face their division rival Laredo Heat to decide the Southern Conference Champion on Saturday night. Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m. at House Park. Laredo advanced to the title game earlier in the afternoon with a 2-0 victory over Southeast Division Champion Ocala Stampede.
The Aztex were quick to jump to a lead in the ninth minute after Aztex forward Sito Seoane collected a rebound from midfielder Tony Rocha’s shot and slid the ball past Pirates goalkeeper Sean Lewis.
Aztex forward Khiry Shelton added the second goal of the first half in the 37th minute. Aztex forward Kris Tyrpak received the ball along the right side in midfield and sent in a curling cross toward the middle toward Seoane. Seoane, in an offside position, let the ball glide past him, which allowed Shelton to race past his defender to get to the ball. Shelton was alone for a one-on-one with Lewis and he juked by Lewis and emphatically hit the ball into the empty net from point blank range.
“I have to thank Paul a lot,” Shelton said on his performance with the team. “He has had patience with me. It’s different because he is having us play a certain way. I want to thank him for giving me that opportunity. “
Eager to get back into the game after halftime, the Pirates made two halftime subs. However, the Aztex's defense was able to calmly retain possession of the ball and absorb the attack from the Pirates.
The Aztex put the game out of reach with their third goal in the 51st minute. This time, Shelton came up with the assist when he sent a pass toward Aztex forward Andres Cuero, who launched a powerful shot about 15 yards from goal after a strong sequence of consecutive passes.
Austin collected their fourth goal after Aztex forward Tucker Hume was pulled down for a foul in the penalty area. Aztex defender Leone Cruz calmly hit the penalty kick into the net for the goal in the 89th minute.
Austin is currently 8-0 in PDL play at House Park this season. The Aztex defeated the Laredo Heat 1-0 in their only matchup at House Park this season on May 25, but the Heat defeated Austin 1-0 later in the season in Laredo for the Aztex only loss of the season on July 3.
“It’s going to be a tough game,” Aztex forward Sito Seoane said. “They have a really good team, but both teams will be playing on back to back days. We are playing at home and we need to keep working as hard as we are."
LAREDO 2, OCALA 0: The Laredo Heat returned to the Southern Conference Championship Game as second-half goals by Juan Ibarra and Joao Monteiro gave them victory against the Ocala Stampede.
The Heat carried the play for much of the first half, out-shooting the Stampede 13-2, but only forced one save out of Ocala goalkeeper Lex Craggs as the two teams went to the break scoreless. It wasn't until the 72nd minute that they were able to take the lead as a driving run and cross into the penalty area by Daniel Garza deflected off Ocala defender Liam Gourley's arm. Ibarra stepped up and fired home the resulting penalty kick to put his side on top.
Ocala struggled to find a foothold in the game, and Laredo put the game away in the final minute as Monteiro added a second as Ibarra notched an assist to go with his earlier goal.