HARLINGEN — Sofia Alaniz-Choy has a booming leg.
So, when she was given a free kick from the 40-yard line with a driving wind behind her, everyone on the field and in the stands (at least on the McAllen Memorial side) knew where the ball was going.
And no one could stop it.
Alaniz-Choy, who has regularly scored from a seemingly different solar system at times this season, blasted the kick straight at the goal. Corpus Christi Flour Bluff kept Jillian Martinez reaching as high as she could while backing and grabbing it — but inside the goal line.
The goal came just two minutes into the second half and was the first of three second-half goals within the first 5 minutes, 30 seconds as McAllen Memorial captured a 4-1 victory over Flour Bluff in the Region IV-5A area playoffs Tuesday at Harlingen South High School.
“She just brings another level of danger really from anywhere on the field,” Memorial head coach Matthew Kaiser said. “What’s crazy is she can do it with both legs. She has a strong left foot and a cannon of a right leg. She can put it in front of the goal and she can score from a long way.”
The Mustangs face Gregory-Portland, which defeated McAllen Rowe 2-1, in the to the Region IV-5A quarterfinals at a time, date and site to be announced. It’s the first time Memorial advances to the third round since 2015, when it reached the fourth round.
“The wind was going across the field, so I was going to hit it a little more to the left than normal,” Alaniz-Choy said. “I was pretty far out and knew the wind would help me. After I kicked it I knew it was gonna get there but if it didn’t I knew Madisyn (Sosa) or someone would be there for a simple putback.
“I thought it was going to be off the goal so it wasn’t the perfect way I wanted to go but it was the outcome I was hoping for.”
After shutting out Flour Bluff during the first half — while the Hornets had the stiff wind to their backs, and Bethany Garr scoring with 3 minutes remaining for a 1-0 lead — the Mustangs took better advantage of that wind. Following Alaniz-Choy’s bomb from deep, Bailey Sullivan scored just a minute later off an Alaniz-Choy corner kick that freshman Chloey Mejia popped over to Sullivan for a 3-0 advantage.
“Going in, we were hoping for a 0-0 score at halftime, fighting the wind. And we chose that in the coin flip,” Kaiser said. “We felt good about not getting scored on and that goal by Bethany was a great start and gave a lot of confidence at the half.”
Two minutes later it was Madisyn Sosa, barreling down the middle of the field on a breakaway and finding the back of the net. A hard-fought first-half for a 1-0 lead was suddenly 4-0.
“I’ve said before Madisyn can explode at any given moment and I know she was hungry,” Kaiser said. “You could see it on her face.”
Sosa and company had multiple clean shots, breakaways and opportunities on goal during the first half, along with two breakaways called back for being offside, but didn’t find the back of the net until Garr’s shot late during that period. Kaiser said it was definitely frustrating. Then they exploded offensively to start the final four minutes.
“(The first half) was super frustrating. During halftime we talked about being a little disappointed but told the girls it’s in the past, redeem yourselves,” Kaiser said.
“They did.”