The Austin Aztex announced their 2013 preseason schedule this week: games against four local college teams in the next three weeks, with more to be announced later. Your first chance to get a glimpse of your 2013 Aztex comes when they take on Huston-Tillotson at 7:30pm this Friday, April 12, Stassney Fields, 1601 W. Stassney. The remaining games: 5:30pm, Friday, April 19 at Southwestern University in Georgetown; 5:30pm, Sunday, April 21 at St. Edward’s; and 7:30pm, Friday, April 26 against the UT men at Whitaker Intramural Fields. All preseason games are free and open to the public. The Aztex now have 25 players on their roster, and they’ll use these preseason games to prepare for their second United Soccer League PDL season, which begins at Oklahoma City on May 11; the first home game is Saturday, May 18 at House Park versus the Houston Dutch Lions.
In related news: The Eberly’s Army supporters group, after exhaustive research, has selected the Tavern (12th & Lamar) as their official 2013 Match Day Pub for Aztex games. The venue promises faster service upstairs, the upstairs bartender is a fan, and scarves are already hanging!
There’s state high school playoff action in the area for the next two weekends: This week, April 12-13, the 5A Region 2 finals are at Round Rock’s Kelly Reeves Athletic Complex (10211 W Parmer). The Cedar Ridge and Westlake girls are in Friday’s semifinals (11am and 1pm, respectively), with the final 11am, Saturday. Boys are at 4 & 6pm, Fri., 1pm Sat; no local teams qualified. In 4A, the Georgetown and Dripping Springs boys, and Cedar Park girls are all in the regional semis in Corpus Christi. … The State Championship tournament is next weekend at Birkelbach Field in Georgetown, Thu.-Sat., April 18-20. The semifinals are Thursday for 4A, Friday for 5A (girls 11am & 1pm; boys 4 & 6pm), and the four state championship games are Saturday.
In European Champions League action this week, presumptive favorites Barcelona and Real Madrid both had to struggle to advance to the semifinals; they’ll be joined by two German teams: Dortmund and Bayern Munich. On this side of the pond, there’s a lot of league pride at stake in the CONCACAF Champions League semifinals, and Mexico’s Liga MX looks to be continuing their dominance over MLS: Santos Laguna advanced to the final over Seattle Tuesday night, and the L.A. Galaxy will need a huge upset at defending champion Monterrey as we go to press Wednesday to avert a rematch of last year’s final.
This article appears in April 12 • 2013.