FRISCO, Texas – The FC Dallas Reserves downed USL Premier Development League side the Laredo Heat, 2-1 in an exhibition match on the adidas field at Pizza Hut Park today. Dallas’ goals came from Home Grown player Bryan Leyva and 2009 first round selection Peri Marosevic. Laredo’s Damian Lopez scored the lone goal for the Heat.
The two teams traded chances early in the match. Laredo smacked a counter-attack chance off the crossbar just before an FC Dallas goal was negated by a handball. Leyva put the home side up 1-0 in the 21st minute with a 25-yard strike to the far upper corner of the goal. The play began with a build-up down the right flank between Ricardo Villar and trialist Ryan Guy. The combination play between Villar and Guy opened space for FC Dallas to switch the ball to the opposite flank. The cross was initially won by Laredo, but Leyva found the loose ball in space and hammered it high to the far post for a one-goal lead.
The pressure from FC Dallas lasted several more minutes before Laredo gained some possession and worked a ball deep into its offensive third of the field. Moving up its left flank, Laredo’s Estaban Bayona slid to save a ball just before it crossed the end line. The resulting cross set up perfectly for an unmarked Damian Lopez, who nodded a header past Chris Seitz to knot the score at 1-1 in the 33rd minute.
FC Dallas countered five minutes later with more creativity down the left side from Leyva. FC Dallas’ first Home Grown player went by a defender and drew two more before dishing a bouncing pass inside to Villar. Villar did well to strike a volley on target with his left foot, but the shot rose too much and ricocheted off the crossbar before being ushered away from danger by the Laredo defense.
Following halftime, FC Dallas came out and immediately earned a corner following a strong run down the left side by Guy. Villar took the kick from the flag and delivered a dangerous line-drive in to the feet of Zach Loyd, but a sliding attempt from the defender skipped just over his foot.
FC Dallas earned a great chance from Moises Hernandez in the 58th minute. Coming up from his left back position, Hernandez hammered a line-drive to the far post from 35-yards out. The ball knuckled against the wind and dipped hard before smacking the crossbar and being cleared away.
FC Dallas pressed the attack more and more in search of a winning goal, but it took until the 85th minute when Eric Alexander slid a ball inside to Marosevic. From just outside the area, Marosevic opened a shooting lane and struck a hard shot to the far post for the 2-1 victory.
Scoring Summary:
DAL – Bryan Leyva 21
LAR – Damian Lopez (Estaban Bayona) 33
DAL – Peri Marosevic (Eric Alexander) 85
FC Dallas – Chris Seitz (Josh Lambo 46), Moises Hernandez, Bobby Warshaw, Zach Loyd, Andrew Wiedeman, Bryan Leyva (Jonathan Top 80), Eric Alexander, Bruno Guarda (Victor Ulloa 65), Ryan Guy, Ricardo Villar (Maykel Galindo 56), Ruben Luna (Peri Marosevic 74).
Laredo Heat – Rodrigo Avila, Reynold Fuentes (Gabriel Muniz 70), Carlos Ordaz, Leone Cruz (Omar Lopez 86), Damian Lopez (Wayo Gonzalez 56), Estaban Bayona (Felix Garcia 56, Albert Escobar 88), Jesus de dios Ibarra (Daniel Garza 85), Greg Mulamba, Daniel Galvan, Armando Begines, Tommy Martinez.
Misconduct Summary:
DAL - Ruben Luna (caution; diving) 51
Referee: Jose Luna Hernandez
Referee’s Assistants: Brent Zirkle and Tom Harlett
Weather: Cloudy, 61 degrees