By ROY HESS | THE BROWNSVILLE HERALD
Given time, sooner or later, the best soccer scorers reach 100 goals.
Add Porter senior Priscila Cortinas to the list.
The Cowgirls’ standout forward, a four-year starter, made it to 100 goals for her high school career on Tuesday night during a 4-1 win at home against District 32-5A opponent Donna High.
Cortinas, who has scored 22 goals so far this season, assisted on the Cowgirls’ first two goals Tuesday that were scored by Azaneth Perez before recording her 99th career goal just before halftime to make it 3-0 for Porter. Just a few minutes into the second half, Cortinas advanced the ball down the right side and fired a shot from about 20 yards away that found the net for No. 100 as the score became 4-0.
“It means a lot to me (to reach this milestone),” said Cortinas, who hopes to play soccer in college. “I’m getting recognized a lot and it’s all because of my teammates. I’m really proud of them.”
UIL girls soccer started in the Rio Grande Valley in 1997, and in Brownsville, it is believed only three high school girls now have reached the 100-goal plateau. The first was Yesenia Ortiz of Rivera. She graduated in 2016 with 147 goals. Next came Pace’s Kryssie Rivera, who just reached 100 goals last Friday in a 5-0 win at Mercedes.
Now Cortinas has achieved the feat.
“With Priscila, it’s awesome,” said Cowgirls coach Abraham Gracia, who has coached Cortinas since she was a freshman. “You can’t believe by the way Priscila plays that she’s as humble as she is. She’s real coachable, she shows up for practice every day and doesn’t complain about anything.
“I wish all the athletes in our program were like her,” Gracia added. “She’s a standout player, but she just considers herself as one of the players on the team. Right now as a senior, she’s become the leader. (We’ve gone to the playoffs the past two years and) she wants to make something for us out of this season as well.”
Cortinas is part of a group of players for the Porter girls who ended a 19-year playoff drought when the Cowgirls reached the postseason for the first time in 2016. Cortinas was a sophomore that year. The Cowgirls made it back to the playoffs in 2017, and now, their goal for 2018 is to make their third straight appearance in the postseason.
“We’ve had a lot of injuries and we’re practicing hard to get better,” Cortinas said. “We want to go to the playoffs, and we are going to the playoffs. We just need to work hard and practice a lot.”
Cortinas and her family have a close bond with soccer, particularly at Porter. Older brothers Filiberto Cortinas (2004) and Alan Cortinas (2011) played for the Cowboys, while Alexis Anzures, a cousin, was a member of the Porter team that won the school’s second UIL state championship in 2016. Christian Maldonado, another cousin, is a member of the current Porter squad.
“It’s a family that loves soccer,” Gracia said. “They all play.”
At the moment, the Cowgirls are 2-2 in 32-5A with six points. They next play Brownsville Veterans Memorial (2-2, six points) at 5:30 p.m. today at Lopez.
“I’m proud of my teammates and myself,” Cortinas said. “We’ve improved a lot in not much time. Since my freshman year we’ve been good. I love my team. I just want to make a lot of memories with them before I graduate.”
Roy Hess covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @HessRgehess