Championship match MVP Angel Cervantes Calvillo scored the only goal of the state final as the Waco LaVega Pirates ended a Cinderella run of the Lake Dallas Falcons 1-0. The Falcons end as silver medalists in the UIL Class 4A Division 1 boys soccer state tournament.
Unbeaten in their previous 11 matches, the Falcons used a cohesive defense led by Joeph Ob Fialos, Cooper Denehie, Wugenio Govea and Athur Bellini to shutout down the high scoring Pirates who were entering the contest averaging four goals per match in playoffs and who had scored 143 goals on the season.
“Our guys played great defense, we had several good shots on goal that did not go in, but they played hard the entire match,” said Falcons coach Brendon Martin.
Lake Dallas allowed the goal in the 43rd minute but rallied fiercely as time ran down, putting huge pressure in the final five minutes as the Pirates collapsed eight defenders into their half of the pitch. The LaVega goalkeeper had two saves and several deflections as the Falcons pressed the contest to the final horn.
LaVega used a six player drop defense that stymied the Lake Dallas offense. LaVega had four defenders back and dropped two midfielders back to offset the speed advantage of the Falcon forwards.
“Lake Dallas was certainly a lot better than their record,” said LaVega coach Manuel Gibson, “They had great ball control and excellent speed, we changed up our defense to focused on cutting down they’re through passes.”
Cervantes Calvillo’s solo goal came on a through pass from Dovanny Moreles after the Pirates had regained possessions following a long setup pass from Emanual Almanza.
Lake Dallas started the season slowly, but Martin got the Falcons aligned as they entered district Lake Dallas was 1-6-5 through their first 12 matches and concluded the season with a 11-7-6 overall record winning five playoff matches by a combined 10-6 goals including a dramatic shootout win over perennial power Stephenville in the area round.