Marble Falls boys soccer beats Del Valle

The Marble Falls High School boys soccer team defeated Del Valle 2-1 Dec. 18 to begin the 2024 season.

“It was a good night, a good tough battle,” head coach Rick Hoover said. “We played really well for being so early in the season. I was happy with the start. We have to fix a lot of things and we’re not as sharp as we need to be but for a first night out, it was a good outing.”

The Mustangs’ two Angels — Angel Mejia and Angel Serna — scored the two goals.

Mejia’s came in the first half with an assist from Anderson Calderon.

The other goal was scored by Serna in the second half thanks to an assist from Esteban Dominguez.

“The second half was a good battle, and they scored with about 20 minutes left,” Hoover said. “Every once in awhile a kid makes a great shot. And that’s what happened. If he would have come by me, I would have high-fived him.”

The Mustangs used two goalies the contest – senior Isaac Larranaga and freshman Jett Marcom.

“They both did fabulous,” the coach said. “They made some saves that could have easily gone in. They stepped up and had incredible saves. Both did a great job.”

Hoover commended his players on a couple of other parts of the match.

The first is how they controlled the ball and knew what to do with it.

“We kept the ball a great amount of time,” he said. “We played with a purpose. We kept the ball at our feet, and we were patient with what we wanted to do.”

The second is how they moved the ball.

“I thought our attack off the side of the ball was very aggressive,” the coach said. “We had very quick counter attacks. I was really pleased with that.”

Marble Falls entered the season opener without playing in its second scrimmage, which was scheduled against Cedar Park High Dec. 14. The Timberwolves discovered on the day of the event they had a scheduling conflict and contacted Hoover to tell him they would not face the Mustangs. Simply, he didn’t have time to find another opponent on that short notice.

So Hoover said he “didn’t know what to anticipate” when his team stepped on the pitch to face the Cardinals.

“Del Valle is a strong 6A program,” he said. “They’re always in the playoffs in the 6A level. I know the coach (Christopher Fisher) there well. He does a great job. I knew they were going to be tough and very skilled.”

Hoover noted the Mustangs and Cardinals will meet again soon.

“It’ll be interesting to see how they develop in the next three weeks,” he said of both squads.

Marble Falls is off for the Christmas holiday and returns when the program conducts its annual alumni match at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 29, at Mustang Stadium.

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