KFDM COOP Posted January 29, 2009 Report Posted January 29, 2009 Titans shock LC-M PN-G SOCCER TOURNAMENT By Tom Halliburton The Port Arthur News GROVES -- Any other PN-G soccer tournament entry would call Thursday's victory a small step but Port Arthur Memorial more likely would consider this a giant leap. Port Arthur Memorial always has been the other school around here that has been a soccer school but without anywhere near the success of either Mid-County school. The Titans have piddled at soccer, never advanced to 5A post-season notoriety and have starved for recognition. Yet on the opening day of the three-day Port Neches-Groves boys tourney, Memorial held its own for a half and then relied on two second-half goals from its tall captain Saul Carillo to defeat perennial 4A playoff entrant Little Cypress-Mauriceville 4-1. Host PN-G also earned a 4-1 opening win over Hamshire-Fannett in mid-30 degree early morning temperatures. Last year's area 4A champ Lumberton defeated Beaumont Central 3-1 and Nederland completed the agenda by walloping Vidor 6-0. Today's schedule features Vidor against Hamshire-Fannett at 9 a.m.; Lumberton against Nederland at 11 a.m.; Port Arthur Memorial and Beaumont Central at 1 p.m.; PN-G and LC-M at 3 p.m. How big was Memorial's victory over LC-M? It's too early in the pre-district season to know for sure. But it's bigger for third-year head coach Brian Morgan than it is for Carillo, lanky goalkeeper Oscar Pulido or any of their teammates. "It's big for our program," Morgan said. "I don't know if it's really that big to the kids. They don't know as much about how good LC-M has been in soccer but I do. I appreciate how good LC-M has been in soccer around here for a long time." It can be argued that Memorial did not play exceptionally well or that LC-M had a bad game, either. It's a case of Memorial upgrading in the last couple of years under Morgan. Memorial (2-1-1) seemed to realize it could hang with the thicker Bears by early in the second half. A bit of an early gift enabled Memorial's Fernando Pulido to score the game's first goal about five minutes into the game. When Memorial's defense struggled to clear the ball, LC-M tied the game with 12 minutes left in the opening half off a rebound shot. Memorial retained the edge permanently (2-1) in the second half's 14th minute on a goal by Brian Gonzalez with an assist from Juan Zepeda. That's shortly after the point when Morgan shifted the talented Carillo to the right midfield. Saul scored two goals in those final 15 minutes with help from Alejandro Damian on one breakaway and another on a volley when Saul looped a 30-yard shot into the net.
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