RGV Drops Season Opener on the Road

El Paso, Texas ---- The Rio Grande Valley Barracudas drop season opener against the El Paso Coyotes by a final score of 8-4 at the El Paso County Coliseum on Saturday night. Christian Gutierrez scored four times and added an assist for the Coyotes to lead all players.

In the first quarter, Gutierrez scored his first goal 43 seconds into the match giving the Coyotes  a 1-0 lead. Three minutes later an equalizer by Ismael Pineda tied the game up for the Barracudas at one. With seconds left in the first quarter Pineda scored again to give RGV a 2-1 lead which would hold through the rest of the first half.

During the third quarter, Gutierrez would score twice within a minute in a half restoring the El Paso  (1-0) advantage at 3-2.  The Barracudas would score with 25 seconds left in the third quarter when Fernando Gatica found Diego Rodriguez to even the score at three after 3 quarters of play.

RGV (0-1) would regain the lead early in the fourth quarter when Antonio Manfut found Raul Salazar giving the Barracudas 4-3 lead. El Paso would go on and score five unanswered goals during the fourth quarter which included the last of Gutierrez's four goal night making a 8-4 final.

RGV goalie Fidel Garcia took the loss for the Barracudas and his record is 0-1, while El Paso goalie Jesus Molina takes his record to 1-0.