The 2014–15 Hidalgo La Fiera season was the third

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

for the professional

indoor soccer Indoor soccer or arena soccer (known internationally as indoor football, fast football, or showball) is five-a-side version of minifootball, derived from association football and adapted to be played in walled hardcourt indoor arena. Indoor socc ...

club and second under the

Hidalgo La Fiera Hidalgo La Fiera (also known as "La Fiera FC") was an American professional indoor soccer team based in Hidalgo, Texas. They played in the Southern Division of the Major Arena Soccer League (MASL). The team was founded in 2012 as the Rio Grande ...

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 State Farm Arena (formerly Philips Arena) is a multi-purpose arena located in Atlanta, Georgia. The arena serves as the home venue for the National Basketball Association (NBA)'s Atlanta Hawks. It also served as home to the National Hockey Leag ...

Hidalgo, Texas Hidalgo is a city in Hidalgo County, Texas, United States. The population was 11,198 at the 2010 census, and in 2019 the estimated population was 14,183. History The area that is now Hidalgo was first settled by Spanish colonists led by José d ...

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

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. A last-ditch money-saving effort involved rescheduling 3 late-December home games for the team's practice facility, Golazo Soccer in Pharr, Texas. 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.

History

The team was originally organized in 2011 as the "Monterrey Flash" in the Liga Mexicana de Futbol Rápido Profesional (LMFR). Although successful, the team moved across the border to Texas and joined the PASL as the "Rio Grande Valley Flash" in September 2012. In mid-October 2012, the Flash announced that they had rejoined the LMFR and would participate in both leagues. This move prove short-lived and the team fell into disarray after the

2012–13 PASL season 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

. In July 2013, Victor Fernandez assumed ownership of the team and reorganized it as "La Fiera FC" with a new logo and colors. In late July, Joaquín García Fernández was announced as team president. 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.

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. The 2014–15 MASL season will be 20 games long, 4 more than the 16 regular season games of recent PASL seasons. With the league expansion and reorganization, Hidlago moved from the Central division to the new Southern division. The other Southern teams for 2014–15 are the

Brownsville Barracudas RGV Barracudas FC is an American soccer club based in Hidalgo, Texas. Founded in 2004 as an amateur team, the men's indoor squad made its professional debut at the Barracudas Sports Complex as the Brownsville Barracudas in the Major Arena Soccer ...

, Dallas Sidekicks, Monterrey Flash,

Saltillo Rancho Seco Saltillo Rancho Seco is a Mexican professional indoor soccer team based in Saltillo, the capital of the northern Mexican state of Coahuila. Since 2011, Saltillo has been a member of the Liga Mexicana de Futbol Rápido Profesional (LMFR) and i ...

, and Beaumont-based

Oxford City FC of Texas Oxford City FC of Texas was an American professional indoor soccer team based in Beaumont, Texas. The team joined the Professional Arena Soccer League on September 26, 2012, as the Texas Strikers. Play in the team's inaugural season began in No ...

Roster moves

On November 19,

XHRIO-TV XHRIO-TDT (channel 15) was a television station in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico, which served the Lower Rio Grande Valley, Rio Grande Valley area in southern Texas, southern Texas, United States. The station was 98%-owned by Mexican-based Televi ...

serving

Harlingen, Texas Harlingen ( ) is a city in Cameron County in the central region of the Rio Grande Valley of the southern part of the U.S. state of Texas, about from the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. The city covers more than and is the second-largest city in ...

, 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. On November 20, the team informed the league that head coach Mariano Bollella and assistant coach Juan Vela had been released from the team. 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. On November 28, Angel Hernandez and Joel Perez left the team and Julio Garcia was announced as the team's new head coach. 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.

Schedule

Regular season

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

References

External links

Hidalgo La Fiera official websiteHidalgo La Fiera
at ''

The Brownsville Herald ''The Brownsville Herald'' is a newspaper based in Brownsville, Texas, circulating in the Cameron County area. Jesse O. Wheeler, a newspaperman from Victoria, purchased Brownsville's ''Cosmopolitan'' newspaper in 1892 and renamed it the ''Browns ...

''
Hidalgo La Fiera
at ''

El Nuevo Heraldo ''El Nuevo Heraldo'' is a Spanish-language newspaper in Brownsville, Texas, United States. It is a sister newspaper to ''The Brownsville Herald''. In 2009 the 2009 Texas Associated Press Managing Editors' annual meeting awarded the ''El Nuevo Her ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:2014-15 Hidalgo La Fiera Season Hidalgo La Fiera

Hidalgo La Fiera 2014 Hidalgo La Fiera 2014