McALLEN – Savannah Ruiz displayed her golden foot Tuesday, scoring two times, and Gabby Gonzalez put McAllen High on the board early as the Bulldogs claimed a 3-1 win over McAllen Rowe in District 31-5A girls soccer at Rowe.
The win not only avenged a district season-opening 2-1 loss to the Warriors but it was also McHi’s ninth straight victory to remain tied atop the 31-5A standings with Edinburg Vela.
Ruiz has been on fire the past few games, scoring and dishing out assists like candy on Halloween. After Rowe’s Ayloni Garcia scored on a beauty of a move to tie the game with 30:13 remaining, Ruiz scored on a penalty kick with 10:09 remaining.
“I think in practice we talk a lot about not just focusing on district but on playoffs so I want to get to my best now to be ready for later,” Ruiz said. “The PK was exciting. I usually to be annoying I’ll look one way to make them think that’s the way I’m going andI just took the left side.”
It was Ruiz’ ninth and 10th goal of district play. She’s the third player on the team now in double digit scoring and the only oneon the team with double digits in assists as well, recently cranking out four dishes in a 4-2 win over Vela.
Gonzalez has also awakened offensively in the recent games. She took a precision pass through ball from Milan Diaz out wide inthe box, made a quick juke a launched a shot into the opposite corner of the net with 33:15 remaining for a 1-0 McHi lead.
“I just knew I had to put it in the back of the net to give us a lead for this game. This game was a really big for us because we worked together on this day, more than the last time we played them,” Gonzalez said. “I’ve had a connection with my team and been getting in the right mindset.”
Garcia missed some of the first half and all of the second half after what may have been a leg injury. That loss took out Rowe’s most explosive offensive player.
The Bulldogs put on a surgical clinic of precision passing and ball control throughout the second half. Rowe couldn’t find much offense and its set pieces, one of its biggest weapons, were off the mark.
McHi improved to 9-1 in district while Rowe dropped to 6-4, in fifth place, with the loss and Sharyland High’s 6-0 win over PSJA Memorial that moved the Rattlers into fourth place. The top four teams advance to the playoffs. Tuesday’s matches were the first games of the second time through the district teams.
Edinburg Vela is tied with McHi atop District 31-5A while a hot McAllen Memorial is one game behind the leaders following a 9-1 victory over PSJA North on Tuesday night.