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(Austin FC/Twitter)
It's that time again! Austin FC is back in Cali to take on the second Los Angeles powerhouse, LA Galaxy, at 2:30 p.m. this Saturday. The match will be shown on Univision and will be live on Twitter, and I'll be documenting the biggest saves and plays that could make you drop your beer right here.
Follow along for a live feed of the Austin FC match.
FULL TIME: Austin loses 2-0 to LA Galaxy
Austin FC was unable to prevent Chicharito from scroing yet another goal as they fell 2-0 to LA Galaxy. Recap to come.
85' Austin is saved by an offsides call
LA Galaxy's Kevin Cabral makes an attempt at 3-0, but an offsides call saves Austin FC from another goal.
75' The Chicharito dam breaks, LA Galaxy scores
⚽️ x 7️⃣@CH14_ scores his league-leading seventh of the season! #LAvATXpic.twitter.com/28zLnOmKWb
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) May 15, 2021
Chicharito finally got one past Stuver with his seventh goal in five matches this season. LA Galaxy goes up 2-0, and Chicharito is now a league leader in goals scored.
58' Subs bring new fire to the ptich
Subs:
— Austonia (@austonianews) May 15, 2021
➡️Rodney Redes
⬅️ Jared Stroud
➡️ Sebastian Berhalter
⬅️Diego Fagundez
➡️ Kekuta Manneh
⬅️ Danny Hoesen
Austin FC takes out Jared Stroud, Diego Fagundez and Danny Hoesen to shake up the lineup. Rodney Redes begins threatening the line immediately at right wing, and sub Kekuta Manneh gets two shots in within a few minutes of coming on to the pitch. Cecilio Dominguez switches to the No. 9 position.
Second half begins, Austin strikes back
46' | Back for the second half!#LAvATX | 1-0 pic.twitter.com/TgkzaT412D
— Austin FC (@AustinFC) May 15, 2021
Austin FC has been outplayed by the Galaxy so far, but the club made two quick attempts as they went for a turnaround at the start of the second half. A shot by Danny Pereira goes high and wide, and a header by Danny Hoesen is just a bit too high.
38' Jimenez out on injury
38' | Sub for #AustinFC
— Austin FC (@AustinFC) May 15, 2021
➡️ Nick Lima
⬅️ Hector Jimenez pic.twitter.com/YQTbfpcAHx
Austin FC brings out the stretcher for right back Hector Jimenez, who fell in an attempt to save the LA Galaxy goal. Jimenez is replaced by Nick Lima after just 38 minutes in his first start with Austin FC.
35' LA Galaxy scores, goes up 1-0
Ball over the top + calm finish from @SLletget!@LAGalaxy grab the opener. #LAvATXpic.twitter.com/bU1cVbEKM7
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) May 15, 2021
LA Galaxy's Sebastian Lletget scores the match opener after overpowering a diving Hector Jimenez, curling a shot over Stuver to make the match 1-0.
25' Brad Stuver with a diving save!
BIG TIME BRAD.
— Austin FC (@AustinFC) May 15, 2021
Take a bow, sir. 👏 pic.twitter.com/66kpgJ9o1e
Austin FC saw its first major threat from the formidable Chicharito when a penalty was drawn on Jhohan Romana. In his usual game-saving fashion, keeper Brad Stuver kept the scoreboard empty with a diving save in the bottom right corner.
2:05 p.m.- Austin FC lineup is released
Austin FC has big lineup changes heading into the big match, but the moves were mostly expected. Captain Alex Ring is out due to a second yellow card last match, and the club put standout rookie Daniel Pereira in his stead. Danny Hoesen is back at the crown of the lineup, and there are rumors that fellow striker Jon Gallagher didn't travel with the team due to injury. He's not on the bench this week.
Finally, Hector Jimenez gets his first start with the club at right back in the stead of Nick Lima.
2:00 p.m.- Los Verdes watch party, South-side style
(Claire Partain/Austonia)
Hundreds of people are at the Los Verdes watch party, including myself and a celebrity appearance in La Murga, Austin FC's own fan band.
Cheers can be heard every time an Austin FC player is featured on the screen on the Univision broadcast.
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Popular
(Paxton Smith/Instagram)
Paxton Smith’s 2021 valedictory speech at Lake Highlands High School in Dallas wasn’t the same speech she had previously shared with school administrators. She dropped the approved speech and made a case for women’s reproductive rights after lawmakers passed the Texas "Heartbeat Bill.”
Her advocacy made news on NPR, YouTubeTV and in The Guardian. Just over a year later, the “war on (women’s) rights” she forewarned has come to a head as the U.S. Supreme Court voted Friday morning to overturn Roe v. Wade, ending constitutional protection for abortion access.
“It is up to the people to show up and show the courts and the politicians that we won’t sit back and let this happen,” Smith told Austonia Friday morning. “We will show up, we will fight back. Before, we were scared of them, now they should be scared of us.”
Now a University of Texas sophomore and abortion rights activist, 19-year-old Smith said she wanted to give the same speech in the “the most public way possible” to reach “as many people as possible who don't agree that I deserve this right.”
However, she says the response was “actually overwhelmingly positive” and supportive of her cause. According to a recent UT poll, 78% of Texas voters support abortion access in most cases.
The speech opened up further opportunities for activism: she advocated for reproductive rights at the International Forum on Human Rights in Geneva, interviewed with Variety magazine and spoke to tens of thousands at Austin’s Bans Off Our Bodies protest at the Texas Capitol in May.
Smith also serves on the board of directors for the Women’s Reproductive Rights Assistance Project, a national nonprofit organization that helps fund abortions or medication abortion—like Plan C pills—in all 50 states. Most recently, Smith has been attending protests in Washington, D.C. leading up to the ruling.
“This is land of the free. This is where you get to choose how you live your life,” Smith said. “Overturning Roe v. Wade violates everything that we have come to believe about what it means to live in this country. I think a lot of people aren't willing to accept that this is a human right that is most likely just going to be gone for over half of the country within the next couple of weeks.”
Bracing for the next steps, Smith gave some tips for supporters:
- Find a protest to attend.
- “I would say invite somebody to go to those protests with you, invite a couple of friends, invite people into the movement,” Smith said.
- Talk about the issue on social media—use the platform you have.
- “Have these kinds of conversations where people can just talk about their fears and then find ways to go and advocate for yourself,” Smith said.
- Volunteer at a nonprofit near you.
“I feel like a lot of the reason things have gotten as bad as they have within the abortion rights world is that people are not making a scene, not protesting, not putting the effort into ensuring that the government doesn't take away this right,” Smith said. “I want to emphasize that if you're not doing anything, don't expect the best scenario, expect the worst because that's the direction that we're going in.”
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(Council Member Chito Vela/Twitter)
The U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark ruling that guaranteed a constitutional right to an abortion, Friday morning. Moments later, Austin City Council set a special meeting for next month to pass a resolution aimed at decriminalizing abortion.
The GRACE Act, which stands for guarding the right to abortion care for everyone, is a twofold plan submitted by council member Jose “Chito” Vela. It recommends that city funds shouldn’t be used to surveil, catalog, report or investigate abortions. It also recommends that police make investigating abortion their lowest priority.
Council Member Vanessa Fuentes, who co-sponsored the resolution along with council members Paige Ellis, Kathie Tovo and Mayor Steve Adler, said the importance of the GRACE Act cannot be overstated.
“By introducing this resolution during a special session, City Council is doubling down on fighting back for reproductive health,” Fuentes said. “Items like the GRACE Act will promote essential healthcare while enabling individuals to exercise their bodily freedom.”
The act takes an approach similar to when former council member Greg Casar moved to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana. Ultimately, state law doesn't allow city officials to order police chiefs to adopt specific enforcement policies so the resolution would be a request to Police Chief Joe Chacon. In May, Politico reported that Vela is having "ongoing conversations" with Chacon about the proposal.
Austonia contacted Attorney General Ken Paxton for comment on the GRACE Act but did not hear back by time of publication. On Friday, Paxton celebrated the overturning of Roe and announced an annual office holiday on June 24 in recognition of the high court's decision.
In a press release, Vela said the Texas state government has a history of overturning municipal protections of human rights. Thirty days after the Supreme Court’s ruling, Texas will ban all abortions, with exceptions only to save the life of a pregnant patient or prevent “substantial impairment of major bodily function.”
Still, Vela expressed hope for the GRACE Act’s longevity. Council’s special meeting on it is set for the week of July 18.
“We know this resolution is legally sound, and Austin is not alone in this fight,” Vela said. “We are working with several other cities who are equally horrified by the prospect of an abortion ban and want to do everything they can to protect their residents.”
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