2014–15 Hidalgo La Fiera season

The 2014–15 Hidalgo La Fiera season was the third season for the professional indoor soccer club and second under the Hidalgo La Fiera branding. (The team was also known as La Fiera FC.) The franchise was founded in 2012 as the Rio Grande Valley Flash. La Fiera, a Southern Division team in the Major Arena Soccer League, played most of their home games in the State Farm Arena in Hidalgo, Texas.[2][3]

Hidalgo La Fiera
2014–15 MASL season
PresidentJoaquín García Fernández
Head CoachMariano Bollella (games 1–2)
Angel Hernandez (games 3–4)
Julio Garcia (games 5–8)
ArenaState Farm Arena
2600 North SH 336
Hidalgo, Texas 78557
Major Arena Soccer LeagueWithdrew on December 23, 2014
Top goalscorerEdgar Flores (7 goals, 3 assists)
Highest home attendance1,468 (November 23 vs. Monterrey Flash)
Lowest home attendance225 (December 21 vs. Dallas Sidekicks)
Average home league attendance707 (3 games)[1]

The team was led by president Joaquín García Fernández and head coach Julio Garcia.[4] The team suffered financial difficulties and resigned its MASL franchise effective December 23, 2014.[5][6]

Season summary

La Fiera began the season with a win then alternated losses and wins for the 7 official games played by the team this season, amassing a 4–3 record. After playing their first three games on the road, the team announced the departure of head coach Mariano Bollella and that the home opener on November 23 would be free admission. Suffering from changes in the ownership group and a lack of revenue, the team began shedding players and attempted to reorganize.[7]

A last-ditch money-saving effort involved rescheduling 3 late-December home games for the team's practice facility, Golazo Soccer in Pharr, Texas.[8] Before the first such game, the visiting Dallas Sidekicks filed a protest with the league about the inadequate playing facilities, including too-small goals. The league vacated the apparent 4–3 La Fiera win on December 23. In a separate decision, they also accepted the team's resignation from the league, ending both La Fiera's season and MASL franchise.[5][9]

History

The team was originally organized in 2011 as the "Monterrey Flash" in the Liga Mexicana de Futbol Rápido Profesional (LMFR).[10] Although successful, the team moved across the border to Texas and joined the PASL as the "Rio Grande Valley Flash" in September 2012.[11][12] In mid-October 2012, the Flash announced that they had rejoined the LMFR and would participate in both leagues.[13] This move prove short-lived and the team fell into disarray after the 2012–13 PASL season. In July 2013, Victor Fernandez assumed ownership of the team and reorganized it as "La Fiera FC" with a new logo and colors.[14][15] In late July, Joaquín García Fernández was announced as team president.[16] La Fiera completed the 2013-14 regular season with a 14–2 record and the Central Division Championship. In the post-season, they won their way into a dual Arena Open Cup and PASL Championship match but lost to the Chicago Mustangs 15–4.[17]

Off-field moves

In May 2014, the Professional Arena Soccer League added six refugee teams from the failed third incarnation of the Major Indoor Soccer League and reorganized as the Major Arena Soccer League.[18][19] The 2014–15 MASL season will be 20 games long, 4 more than the 16 regular season games of recent PASL seasons.[20]

With the league expansion and reorganization, Hidlago moved from the Central division to the new Southern division.[19][21] The other Southern teams for 2014–15 are the Brownsville Barracudas, Dallas Sidekicks, Monterrey Flash, Saltillo Rancho Seco, and Beaumont-based Oxford City FC of Texas.[22][23]

Roster moves

On November 19, XHRIO-TV serving Harlingen, Texas, reported that the team "has let go of" Mariano Bollella and named defender Angel Hernandez as interim head coach with defender Joel Perez as his assistant coach.[24][25] On November 20, the team informed the league that head coach Mariano Bollella and assistant coach Juan Vela had been released from the team.[7] The team announced that admission to the Sunday, November 23, home game would be free and that a "special announcement" would be made during the game.[24][25]

On November 28, Angel Hernandez and Joel Perez left the team and Julio Garcia was announced as the team's new head coach.[4] On December 5, nine more players were released after seven of the nine had been placed on the 14-day injured reserve list on November 22.[7]

Schedule

  Win   Loss   Vacated   Cancelled

Regular season
Game Day Date Kickoff Opponent Results Location[26] Attendance
Score Record
1 Saturday November 8 7:05pm at Oxford City FC of Texas W 13–7[27][28] 1–0 Ford Arena[29][30] 1,388[31]
2 Wednesday November 12 8:35pm at Monterrey Flash L 4–7[32] 1–1 Arena Monterrey[30][33] 3,740[34]
3 Saturday November 22 6:00pm at Brownsville Barracudas W 6–3[35] 2–1 Barracudas Sports Complex[30][36][37] 715[38]
4 Sunday November 23 3:05pm Monterrey Flash L 2–11[39][40] 2–2 State Farm Arena[33] 1,468[41]
5 Sunday November 30 3:00pm Oxford City FC of Texas W 9–7[42] 3–2 State Farm Arena 426[43]
6 Saturday December 6 7:00pm at Dallas Sidekicks L 3–7[44][45][46] 3–3 Allen Event Center[4][47] 3,907[48]
7 Friday December 12 7:35pm at Saltillo Rancho Seco W 11–10[49][50] 4–3 Deportivo Rancho-Seco Saltillo[51][52][53] 200[54]
8 Sunday December 14 3:05pm Oxford City FC of Texas1 State Farm Arena
9 Sunday December 21 3:05pm Dallas Sidekicks2 4–3[9][55] Golazo Soccer (Pharr)[8][56] 228[57]
10 Friday December 26 7:05pm Saltillo Rancho Seco Golazo Soccer (Pharr)
11 Saturday December 27 7:05pm Monterrey Flash[58][59] Golazo Soccer (Pharr)[33]
12 Saturday January 3 7:00pm at Dallas Sidekicks Allen Event Center[56]
13 Saturday January 10 7:05pm at Oxford City FC of Texas Ford Arena
14 Sunday January 11 3:05pm Brownsville Barracudas State Farm Arena
15 Sunday January 18 5:05pm at Monterrey Flash Arena Monterrey[33]
16 Monday January 19 7:35pm Brownsville Barracudas State Farm Arena[23]
17 Sunday January 25 3:05pm Dallas Sidekicks State Farm Arena[56]
18 Saturday January 31 6:00pm at Brownsville Barracudas Barracudas Sports Complex
19 Sunday February 15 3:05pm Saltillo Rancho Seco State Farm Arena
20 Friday February 20 7:35pm at Saltillo Rancho Seco Deportivo Rancho-Seco Saltillo

1 Game originally postponed; later cancelled after Hidalgo folded mid-season.
2 League vacated results on December 23 after upholding Dallas' protest of playing conditions.[9]

References
  1. "2014-15 League Attendance". Major Arena Soccer League. Retrieved January 19, 2015.
  2. Smither, Madeleine (June 5, 2014). "State Farm to retain naming rights to Hidalgo arena for another 5 years". The Monitor. McAllen, TX: AIM Media Texas. Retrieved November 3, 2014.
  3. Smither, Madeleine (June 6, 2014). "State Farm Insurance buys Hidalgo arena naming rights for 5 more years". The Brownsville Herald. Brownsville, TX: American Consolidated Media. Retrieved October 13, 2014.
  4. Marshall, Raymond (December 5, 2014). "Sidekicks Face 2nd Big Game Test Against Wounded La Fiera". The Dallas Morning News. Dallas, TX: A. H. Belo. Archived from the original on December 8, 2014. Retrieved December 5, 2014.
  5. "MASL Announcement Regarding Hidalgo". Major Arena Soccer League. December 23, 2014. Archived from the original on 2014-12-24. Retrieved December 24, 2014.
  6. "Hidalgo folds, leaves MASL with 22 teams". The Examiner. Independence, MO: GateHouse Media. December 24, 2014. Retrieved December 24, 2014.
  7. "La Fiera Transactions". Major Arena Soccer League. November 20, 2014. Retrieved November 21, 2014.
  8. Marshall, Raymond (December 19, 2014). "Sidekicks Game Sunday Moving to Smaller Venue?". The Dallas Morning News. Dallas, TX: A. H. Belo. Archived from the original on December 20, 2014. Retrieved December 20, 2014.
  9. Marshall, Raymond (December 23, 2014). "BREAKING: Hidalgo La Fiera Ceases Operations". The Dallas Morning News. Dallas, TX: A. H. Belo. Archived from the original on December 24, 2014. Retrieved December 24, 2014.
  10. Rivas, Claudia Perez (September 28, 2012). "Pro indoor soccer coming to Rio Grande Valley". Rio Grande Guardian. Archived from the original on 2011-10-11. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
  11. Krieger, Dan (October 2, 2012). "Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report". Our Sports Central. Retrieved February 4, 2013.
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