Hard to beat an opening night of a brand new soccer stadium. And what a stadium. Tonight saw the Laredo Heat open their state-of-the-art home field, PEG Energy Stadium in Laredo, Tx. It’s hard to express how incredible this stadium is, and I’ll be writing more about it in an extended article next week, but I’ll say that no team in the NPSL is playing in a privately-owned stadium better than the one that Laredo opened on Saturday night.

Laredo came out hot and looked every bit like they would run CF10 Houston FC off the field. Two goals (Jordan Mase and Gabriel Claudio) in the first 17 minutes for the homeside made this one look like it was over before it even got started, but Houston found a goal of its own in the first 20 (Aidan Morrison) before Laredo would score again to make the lead 2 goals again (Manuel Ponce Casas). And that 3-1 scoreline would hold until halftime.

In the second half, Laredo would go up 4-1 (another from Casas), before quickly conceding a second to the visiting side (Jose Maria Ojeda). Laredo had multiple shots that could have extended the lead, but shots were consistently off or blocked by the Houston keeper. In the 73rd minute, a penalty call would give Houston a chance to pull another back. The call looked soft from where I was sitting, as the player was well away from the goal and went down easily from a push, but I’m known to doubt most penalty calls. The penalty was converted and the Heat lead was down to a single goal, 4-3 (another for Morrison).

The crowd has been locked in all night, cheering and celebrating the goals. I know this isn’t a play-by-play account, but in the 85th minute, a cross went into the box that a Laredo player tried to head the ball in with the back of his head, requiring an impressive save from the Houston keeper. One of the wildest plays I’ve ever seen and I had to mention it on it's own. In the 90th minute, leading by one, a Laredo defender went to ground, fouling a charging Houston forward in the box. Penalty. When all seemed lost, the Houston player stepped to the box and, with the bleachers shaking, attempted a panenka. The miss-hit ball went over the crossbar and the crowd erupted. 5 minutes of stoppage with plenty of back and forth, but a home win for Laredo Heat christened their new stadium in the best possible way. Great night of soccer.

- Dan Vaughn