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A speck of magic was created on a rainy, stormy Friday night.
While cars were jammed throughout the city and citizens chose to stay home for the night, a new team was born inside of the El Paso County Coliseum.
The inaugural season of the El Paso Coyotes was broadcasted to the El Paso audience for the first time on Nov. 4 in front of a couple thousand screaming fans.
The squad allowed four unanswered goals to the Dallas Sidekicks from the start of the second quarter to the 7:51-mark of the third quarter, and they fell 14-7 in their home opener.
Despite the loss, history was made—it was El Paso’s first look at a Major Arena Soccer League matchup. It was a night exciting for not only the fans, but for co-owner Gil Cantu. He and his staff envisioned this team four years back and it was a dream come true seeing everything unfold.
“For the weather being as bad as it was, it was a successful night. People still came out and our fans loved it,” Cantu said. “It’s still a learning experience for some of our players—this is their second time playing against teams who have been playing for three-four years. I think we are doing good.”
The Coyotes started hot off a Leobardo Siquieros goal in the first two minutes, which lifted the home team’s spirits to start off. The crowd erupted with beaming joy.
The Sidekicks capitalized off of defensive errors the Coyotes made and scored back-to-back go-ahead goals. El Paso forward David Salas connected with homegrown midfielder Arturo Vega for the tying goal in the first quarter.
“It felt great knowing family and friends were watching in the crowd,” Vega said. “It felt rewarding to play in front of the home crowd.”
The two clubs trades off two goals each, which ended in a Juan Gomez goal for the Coyotes, which tied the high-scoring matchup at 4 to cap off the first quarter.
The second quarter was lopsided in the Sidekicks’ favor. They scored four unanswered goals from the start of the second quarter to the seven-minute mark of the third quarter.
The Coyotes played in a more spread out, outdoor fashion, while the Sidekicks had a schematic way of attacking the unique indoor sport.
“This sport is very different—it’s a lot faster,” Vega said. “It isn’t 11 versus 11; we need to get better at spacing and know were everyone is on the field.”
The Coyotes were then left to play a game of catch-up. They crawled back from the 9-4 deficit by totaling three goals in the third period, making it 10-7 going into the fourth quarter. The way they were competing, there was definitely hope for a comeback, but the Sidekicks broke free with another set of four unanswered goals in the fourth quarter. The Coyotes had a chance at goals multiple times, but could not close off plays.
“We had a good start, but we just got too excited,” Vega said. “It was a hard game. We have good players, but we just have to get better. Every game we are improving.”
Follow Adrian Broaddus on Twitter @adrian_broaddus.
