Nativity sophomore midfielder Alvaro Mendez knows a thing or two about Tri-Valley soccer.
The younger brother of former Tri-Valley standout Yancarlos Mendez, Alvaro was looking forward to the Hilltoppers’ District 11 Class A quarterfinal with the Bulldogs on Thursday afternoon atop Lawton’s Hill.
It didn’t take long for Alvaro to make his presence known against his brother’s former team.
Mendez assisted on Ricardo Chagolla’s opening goal four minutes in to help No. 2-seed Nativity to a 2-1 win over No. 7 Tri-Valley.
Nativity plays No. 3 Schuylkill Haven — a 4-3, overtime winner over Williams Valley — in Monday’s semifinals at a time and location to be determined.
“I didn’t want to lose at home to (Tri-Valley),” said Mendez, now a student at Shenandoah Valley, which has a co-op with Nativity. “It meant a lot to me, this game. They’re my friends — it saddens me, but we did what we had to do.”
Mendez picked out the onside run of Chagolla with a lovely floated ball over the Tri-Valley back line in the 4th minute. Chagolla got one-on-one with Dawgs’ keeper Zack Wise and tapped his shot inside the far post.
The Hilltoppers (12-3-1) added to their lead just 45 seconds later. A long punt by Nativity keeper Eric Nelson fell to Ernesto Tovar, who chipped an arching shot over Wise to give Nativity a 2-0 lead before 5 minutes had elapsed.
Nelson had little trouble cutting out Tri-Valley deliveries into his box in the first half. The junior keeper stopped all three Bulldog shots in the half, including a hard, low liner by Ben Hinkel.
“They were fired up,” Nativity coach Matt Hamilton said. “They knew if they got on top of another team, that we can press home our advantage and really control the game.
“We were doing that in the first 10 minutes, wasted a couple chances to go three, four up and then we slowly let them back into the game. The start was wonderful but we need to maintain that for the whole 80 minutes.”
Tri-Valley (7-12) took advantage of every bit of space it was allotted in the second half. Hinkel finally connected with a curling shot into the far corner of the goal in the 52nd minute, cutting Nativity’s lead in half.
The Dawgs received new life with the strike and began pressuring harder, but never could find the equalizer despite three quality chances in two minutes at the 69th-minute mark.
Cole Smeltz laced a shot that was always curling wide right, Ethan Schatz got a head to a Hinkel corner that just missed high and Hinkel tapped a shot inches wide of the far post with 9:30 remaining.
“That whole second half, I think we dominated,” Tri-Valley coach Phil Barry said. “If we came out and played the whole game like that, I think it could be a whole different ball game.
“That’s the story of our season — finish, finish,” he added. “We couldn’t finish, we couldn’t capitalize on our opportunities. In districts, you have to. You win or you’re done. There’s no tomorrow if you lose.”
Three offside calls on Nativity in the final 10 minutes — three of eight total all afternoon — prevented the Hilltoppers from adding to their lead.
In the end, they didn’t need to. Two goals proved enough.
“This game meant a lot to us,” Mendez said. “Nativity hasn’t got that many playoff wins. The midfield was key, everyone did their part, everything was perfect. Toward the end we just did what we had to do and came away with the win.”
Game Summary
District 11 Boys’ Soccer
Class A Quarterfinal
Tri-Valley (7-12) 0 1 — 1 Nativity (12-3-1) 2 0 — 2
Nat —Chagolla (Mendez), 4th minute
Nat —Tovar (Nelson), 4th minute
TV —Hinkel (18), 52nd minute
Shots on goal: Tri-Valley 6, Nativity 11. Corner kicks: Tri-Valley 3, Nativity 3. Saves: Tri-Valley (Wise) 9, Nativity (Nelson) 5.