Day 2 | Day 1 coverage here

BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA – After Friday’s stifling heat and humidity, electricity became the dominant weather characteristic Saturday as a lengthy afternoon delay for area thunderstorms pushed play at the U.S. Youth Soccer Region III Championships into the wee hours of Sunday morning.

There are 22 fields here at the BREC Burbank Soccer Complex, but only a few of them have lights. So when the thunderstorm delay hit just prior to the scheduled 4 p.m. matches, it sent tournament organizers into scramble mode. As a result 8 U18 Boy s matches that were originally scheduled to begin at 6 p.m., when there is sufficient daylight to play without lights, were pushed to 10 p.m. and midnight (yes, midnight).

Scheduled start times for Sunday were also rearranged to give the U18 players sufficient time to recover from their late night. Tournament organizers can’t be held accountable for the weather, but they can be for what they do in response and you’d have to say this was a pretty creative and acceptable response to the situation. The scene at the complex late Saturday night promised to be a fun time for all.

Sunday will be the final day of group stage matches, with two teams per group advancing to Monday’s quarterfinals. Weather forecasts continue to call for hot and humid conditions and fitness and professional conduct between matches will certainly be a major factor in deciding which 14 teams advance from this event to the U.S. Youth Soccer Nationals, to be held in Kansas City next month.

U15 Boys: Solar SC 1, Mexicas (STX) 1

This all Texas matchup started a little slow but ended up being an entertaining match, with a 1-1 draw keeping both teams in good position to advance heading into Sunday’s final group stage matches.

Mexicas was holding a lot of players back from the attack in the early going, appearing to concentrate on defending in numbers and capitalizing on set pieces. Solar has some fast fast players on its forward line and looked more active going forwarding in the early going.

The Region III Premier League West champions nearly scored early when winger Ricardo Delgadillo put in some good work on the right and sent a dangerous cross into the 6-yard box. Mexicas goalkeeper Jiovani Hernandez produced an acrobatic punch to clear the danger.

Mexicas’ midfielder Gerardo Perez played a nice through ball for his team’s first chance, but Solar goalkeeper Brenden Ottman raced off his line to end the threat.

Solar nearly scored on a corner when Delgadillo hit an excellent serve, but a bullet header from Marco Ortiz brought a fine reflex save from Mexicas goalkeeper Hernandez. Solar’s Bobby Edet then hit a good serve into the area but a frantic clearance kept the ball out of the net. Barry Foster played a good pass for Brendan Haberkorn  but the shot went wide and the match went to halftime scoreless.

Mexicas midfielder Jose Martinez showed good soccer intelligence and feet. Winger Christian Garcia was very industrious and the team’s most dynamic attacker.

Solar took the lead in the 2nd half when Marco Ortiz controlled the ball well in front of goal and finished to make it 1-0. Mexicas almost answered right away when Gerardo Perez chipped the Solar goalkeeper, but Solar’s Luke Jenner cleared the ball off the line.

Mexicas was pushing forward with more numbers by this point and they scored the equalizer when Osvaldo Chavez, who had a very good 2nd half, hit a good corner into the area and Luis Ortega bundled it in from close range to make it 1-1.

Garcia nearly combined with Chavez to put their team ahead, but a good cross and shot were negated by Ottman’s save.

Solar had an even better scoring opportunity in the final minute. Foster made a good run and hit a shot that struck the post. Haberkorn directed a rebound effort on net but Mexicas’ Jose Martinez kept the effort out despite having been knocked to the ground.

Solar and Mexicas now both have 4 points in the group, with Arkansas Comets at 3 points, meaning both teams will advance with a win or a draw.

Check back tomorrow for more details and a full look at the quarterfinal pairings.

Day 2 | Day 1 coverage here