The Houston Dutch Lions fall to the Laredo Heat 4-2

THE WOODLANDS, Texas - The Houston Dutch Lions faced an unfortunate loss Thursday night against the Laredo Heat, giving up four goals and only scoring two. However, the Lions are not to be pitied, as they continuously and strategically formulated favorable plays throughout the game that created multiple moments of an adrenaline-rushed crowd yelling “so close” and players putting their hands to their heads in despair.

Laredo officially commenced the game, scoring a goal in the 7th-minute of the first half. There was not much that could be done by Lion goalkeeper Robert Muller as the ball was crossed from the left side of the goal to the back of the net, but the Dutch Lions (1-1-2) were not going to let the Heat secure a win that easily. Just 16 minutes later, Lion George Kelley finished a ball off a free kick from fellow teammate Pieter Beereboom. The Dutch Lions were rewarded a free kick on the right side of the final third due to a foul from the Heat, and Beereboom sent the ball into the middle of the 18 yard box with the hopes a teammate would have correct placement to follow it up. A cluster of both Houston and Laredo players were greeted by the ball, which in turn led to a deflection off a body that allowed Kelley to finish a low, driven ball into the back of the net, bringing the score to a hopeful 1-1.

“I thought we played the last part of the game with our hearts, and I thought we put in a lot of energy. We could have scored 20 minutes before the end of the game, we had a huge opportunity to score. If you score that goal, then it becomes 3 to 4, and then you can create more opportunities for the equalizer. I was glad to see that the guys played with their hearts and that they wanted to score,” Houston Dutch Lions head coach Marco Pruis said. “The negative side of that is that we give up goals too easily. I think that when we play these guys again on Saturday, if we focus on the back, we can definitely win.”

Laredo responded to the Houstonian celebrations in a rather determined way, scoring another goal just two minutes after the Lions’ goal. A similar set up was produced for this goal as was the first Heat goal, and the ball managed to cross the face of the goal once again and land in Houston territory. This officially brought the first half to a 2-1 game, and gave both teams half time to decide who would win the match.

The start of the second half mirrored that of the first, with Laredo scoring a goal just three minutes into the start of play. In addition, the Heat came back again in the 63rd minute of the game with their fourth and final goal of the match, and handed over the scoring duties to the Lions. In the 68th minute, Jorge Contreras of Houston scored a goal off of a penalty kick given to him and his team. The Laredo Heat received a red card, and ended the game playing with 10 players and allowing the home team another goal.

Laredo was not alone in misconduct, as Marshal Tucker of Houston was also awarded with a red card with just 11 minutes left in the game. With an even matchup of 10 players, the teams managed to keep the rest of the second half to a 4-2 game, giving each team their own type of determination heading into their second match up against each other on Saturday, June 13.

The next game of the series will be played Saturday at 7 pm at the Dutch Lions FC soccer stadium.