CORPUS CHRISTI — The McAllen High girls soccer team played somewhat of a mirror image of themselves against Cedar Park in the Region IV-5A semifinals Tuesday at Corpus Christi Calallen Stadium.
Unfortunately for McHi, the opposition played the aggressor, the controller and, ultimately, the conqueror — all the things the Bullldogs were this entire season — during a dominant 4-0 victory to reach the regional finals.
“That is a very, very good team we played. It was like playing ourselves with the same style they play,” McHi head coach Pat Arney said. “I’m glad we had the opportunity to play this season and am proud of the girls.
“They were the better team tonight. Now we will go back to the drawing board and prepare for next season.”
Sabrina Blount scored twice for the Timberwolves, while Breland Mungia and Lisa Borge also scored, the final two goals coming during the final five minutes to seal the game.
The win improves Cedar Park to 20-6-2, while the Bulldogs end their season at 21-1.
Cedar Park controlled possession for a majority of the game, a common theme usually mastered by McHi all season. They also disrupted the Bulldogs from getting many runs on goal to finding a rhythm, more often than not beating them to free balls and intercepting several of the through passes during breakaway attempts.
“They were the more physical team and they are like us as far as wanting to control possession,” Arney said. “We had some opportunities but couldn’t finish it a coupe times.”
McHi worked themselves into two opportunities with attacks during the first 10 minutes but, with gusting winds behind them, their long angling passes to speedy wing Mallory Henderson were too far ahead to catch up to.
Mungia set up the first goal with a free kick that bounced around inside the box before Blount put it away.
McHi goalkeeper Grace Kelly made a full outstretched diving save with 2:33 left during the first half that kept the game tired at the break. She made a few more unreliable saves throughout the match.
The Bulldogs came out more physical during the first few minutes of the second half and looked to have more opportunities to score throughout the period but couldn’t find the back of the net. Mungia found herself in front of the box and fired off a shot that gave Cedar Park a 2-0 advantage with 37:06 remaining.
The Bulldogs pushed more to get something going offensively but the Timberwolves were a bit faster, a bit stronger and finished their attacks.