PATRIOTS BEAT HEAT, 2-1

Olivares Tallies Twice, El Paso One Win Away from

Tying Laredo for

Jaír Olivares is usually the man who sets up the offense with solid passing. Friday night in front of 1,599 at Patriot Stadium, Olivares was on the other end of two great passes, as the defensive midfielder scored both El Paso goals and the Patriots beat the defending PDL champion Laredo Heat, 2-1 (see the video here).

The win brings El Paso back to .500 with a 4-4-3 record and 15 points, and the Patriots can tie the Heat for second place if they’re able to best Laredo again Saturday night.

The Heat suffered only their second loss on the season, and at 5-2-3 with 18 points are still solidly in second place regardless of the results of any other match played this weekend.

Still, head coach Israel Collazo had to be disappointed with Laredo’s defense against Javier McDonald’s Patriots, while El Paso ’s defense held Heat forward Felix García and the defending champs’ offense most of the match.

A Laredo native and member of the US U-20 national team, García, who stayed in the game despite taking a nasty spill against the rock wall in the short north end of Patriot Stadium just before the half, was more than up for the task of leading Laredo ’s offense. His equalizing goal in the 61st minute was a rocket of a header that beat Patriots goalkeeper Sebastián Narvaéz on a great pass from playmaker Juan Ibarra.

But it was sandwiched around Olivares’ tallies, as the Cd. Juárez, CHIH, native deposited a slow-rolling pass from the left of the 18-yard box from Rodrigo Morín in just the 11th minute of play. Uncharacteristic problems in the back led to a turnover and the Patriots walked in on Heat goalie Ryan Cooper.

However, the game-winner was the goal of the night. On a restart, defensive winger Mário García sent in a beautiful arcing ball to the far post from the right corner of the area. As a defensive midfielder, Olivares doesn’t usually draw a great deal of attention on the attack, and the miscalculation cost Laredo as Olivares was unmarked at far post to head home from a hard angle and point blank range in the 67th.

It marked the first time in over a month that the Patriots have scored more than one goal, and Olivares becomes the second player to score more than once for El Paso . Michael Griego is the other, putting in two goals in two games against DFW last weekend.

The Battle of the Border continues Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. between these two rivals, and the Patriots now hold a 7-4-0 lead in the all-time series.

As always, a free youth clinic will be available for kids 12 and under before Saturday’s match from 6 p.m. to 6:30 p.m inside Patriot Stadium. Then, the first 300 fans will receive a free Sobe Life Water hat courtesy of Pepsi.

Tickets to the match are available online at www.elpaso-patriots.com, at the Patriots offices (call 915.771.6620), as well as at International Soccer on Montana and at World Soccer on North Mesa .

The match will be available on the web, both live and archived, at www.elpaso-patriots.com. KLAQ/KROD’s and MetroSports Southwest’s Duke Keith has the play-by-play.