on the road: they scored an 88th-minute winner to beat Austin Lightning 4–3 on the opening day, enjoyed a comfortable 3–0 win over DFW Tornados, came from behind to beat traditional rivals El Paso Patriots 3–2, and beat Austin for a second time, 4–1 on the road in mid-June. Laredo's only losses came at the hands of DFW and El Paso, the latter a comfortable 3–0 win for the Patriots on their home turf in the final game of the season, but by that time Laredo had already wrapped up their first divisional title by 16 points from the Tornados, and were into the playoffs for the second straight year. They won their conference semifinal 3–2 over Augusta Fireball with two late goals from substitute Arnoldo Presas-Delgado, and secured their first ever conference championship by beating Bradenton Academics 2–1 with an 89th-minute winner from Dionisio Infante. Their first trip to the national stage saw them taking on Eastern Conference champions Westchester Flames; with yet another dogged performance, Laredo came from two goals down to win 3–2 with Dionisio Infante scoring an 89th-minute winner for the second game in a row. The Heat hosted the 2006 PDL Championship Game, which was broadcast live on Fox Soccer Channel, where they faced Central Conference champions Michigan Bucks. Unfortunately for Laredo, and despite the support of 7,000 home fans, lightning couldn't strike three times, and Michigan held on to win 2–1 and take their first PDL title. Nevertheless, reaching the national final was a monumental feat for a second year franchise, and boded well for the future. Hector Vallejo-Medina was Laredo's top scorer, with 7 goals, and Steve Su contributed 6 assists. 2007 Laredo retained their Mid South Division title in style in 2007, losing just two regular season games all year long. Despite never really overwhelming any of their opponents in games, Laredo were dogged and determined, grinding our comfortable 1–0 and 2–0 wins over their opponents, doing just enough to remain consistent all year. They began the season strongly, with a 3–0 win over Baton Rouge Capitals on the opening day of the season, and despite dropping points to El Paso, New Orleans and Austin, remained at the top end of the divisional standings throughout May. They beat DFW Tornados 4–1 at home on June 1, kick-starting their season into action; they lost just one more game, a tight 1–0 decision on