Aggressiveness carried the Yellowjacket soccer side to an emotional 4-1 win over the visiting Chapel Hill Bulldogs Monday.  

The Jackets were aggressive in the midfield, aggressive in defense and, above all, aggressive on the attack. Mineola won the balance of all loose balls, headers and man-on-man challenges. It was just how the whole team played on this night.

No one exemplified this more than Cristian Ledesma, who tallied a hat-trick while the team was undermanned. Each of those goals was the result of yeoman’s work in the midfield, excellent passes laid in – often over the top – which Ledesma could run on to, and a strength on the ball which allowed Ledesma to finish.

Mineola carried the momentum into this match that they generated from last Friday’s 3-2 win over Lindale. 

In the first minute, the Jackets put two shots on goal. The first was nice combination work between Eduardo Zavala and Brayan Torres, and the second, a similar effort from Leonardo Villanueva and Heriberto Lucas.

The opening goal came moments later when Villanueva fed Zavala, who was attacking up the left wing.  Zavala sent a blistering shot into the far corner of the net from about 20 meters. The placement of the shot was perfect, and the goalkeeper had no chance. 

Chapel Hill evened the score in the tenth minute. In one of their few first-half forays, they attacked up the right wing and made a precision pass in front, which was put away cleanly. 

Mineola carried most of the first half action. They generated a handful of shots on goal. The most exquisite was in the 28th minute, as Zavala headed a ball forward to Torres, who then found Alex Cortez streaking up the left side. Cortez’ shot was saved.

Just before the break, Andres Martinez placed a long free kick directly in front of goal amongst a mix of legs. The Jackets had three hacks at the ball before the keeper finally controlled the ball in the traffic.

Chapel Hill has a good squad, and they began to assert themselves in the second half. The Jackets’ defense, however, was up to the challenge. Johnny Rocha made a couple of excellent saves – one a sliding save in the 50th minute, which stopped a Chapel Hill rally.    

The game fundamentally changed in the 59th minute as a scuffle broke out near the Mineola goal. When play resumed, the Jackets were down to 10 men. 

Desperate defending by Mineola ensued. While the Jackets realigned into a defensive set, Ledesma remained up top. 

A blatant foul on Ledesma after he was on the ground earned him a penalty kick in the 72nd minute. The striker quickly took the penalty and, with one step, ripped it into the upper left corner of the net – Mineola 2, Chapel Hill 1.

Five minutes later, Ledesma chased down a pass over the top, fought off three defenders and buried his shot – Mineola 3-1.

Ledesma wasn’t done. In the final minute, he broke free, toed the ball around the goalkeeper, who had come out to challenge, caught up to the ball and tapped it into goal. 

It was a most improbable achievement – a hat-trick while the side was playing short-handed.

The Yellowjackets are playing excellent soccer. After dropping a match to Brownsboro, they came storming back with wins at Lindale and against Chapel Hill (the two teams directly above of them in the table.) 

The next chance to watch Mineola at home will be Friday, Feb. 13. The Yellowjackets presently sit in 5th place in a nine-team district. They certainly are playing, however, like a team bound for the playoffs.