While District 32-5A seems to be shaping up with the top four teams now just vying for position, anything can still happen.
One of the big games on tap this week is fourth-place Edcouch-Elsa (12 points) traveling to third-place Donna High (18) at 5:30 p.m. Friday. Both teams need a win to not only give them a spark, but better playoff positioning with six games remaining.
Brownsville Porter (23 points) leads the district with Brownsville Veterans in second (19 points). The teams played each other for a second time Friday and tied 3-3 with Porter gaining two points for a win in PKs. The squads had given up only five goals between them all year before the offensive explosion. It was the first goals scored against state-ranked Porter in district this season.
Weslaco East stunned Edcouch-Elsa on Friday night, claiming a 2-0 win and keeping the Yellow Jackets with 12 points.
Donna High is led by senior offensive standout Madalyn Park. who scored three times during a 3-2 win over Brownsville Lopez. The senior forward has 13 goals in district play and 126 total goals for her career.
“We are pushing through one game at a time,” Donna head coach Norma Medina said. “Madalyn brings a lot of hard work and determination and if teams mark Maddie, they see that we have other girls who will shoot, too. She’s always so go-go-go, it gets sometimes into the defense’s skin.”
Donna won the first meeting 3-1.
“This is always an intense game,” Medina said. “Edcouch is very physical like us and it just goes back and forth all the time.”
FRESHMEN PHENOMS
Two freshmen have made a major impact on their teams this year offensively.
McAllen High’s Julianna Millin has scored 13 goals in seven district games, while McAllen Memorial’s Chloey Mejia has found the back of the net 10 times in six district games, scoring twice last week in a windy match against then-undefeated McAllen Rowe. The Memorial win put the Mustangs alone atop District 31-5A with 18 points. Rowe is second with 17, McHi third with 16 and Sharyland High fourth with 15.
The next closest teams — Valley View and Sharyland Pioneer — each have six points.
BACK FOR MORE
McAllen Rowe’s Ayloni Garcia missed three games after suffering a high ankle sprain during a victory over Sharyland High. She scored twice during the first half but then rolled her ankle just a few minutes into the second half.
She returned Friday and scored once during an 8-0 win over PSJA Southwest and should be ready to go today against city and district rival McAllen High. The Warriors beat McHi in the first district match of the season, winning on penalty kicks after the Bulldogs’ Julianna Millin scored with less than 30 seconds remaining in regulation to tie the game.
“She looked good,” Rowe head coach John Martinez said about The Monitor’s 2020 Girls Soccer All-Area Newcomer of the Year. “But I didn’t want to chance it and took her out.”
The teams play at 6 tonight at McAllen Veterans Memorial Stadium.
NEW RANKINGS
Five teams are ranked in the latest Texas Girls Coaches Association state soccer poll.
Hidalgo becomes the first Class 4A team to make the list, coming in at No. 20 with a 5-0 record. Palestine is the top-ranked team in the state with a 15-0 mark.
McAllen Rowe, 11-0-0 according to the poll, and Brownsville Porter, 16-2-1, come in at No. 8 and No. 17 respectively. Before Friday, Porter hadn’t given up a goal in district play but allowed Brownsville Veterans three goals in a PK victory.
Rowe lost the McAllen Memorial 3-2 on Friday. Abby Rocha scored twice during the loss, the goals coming six minutes apart after the Warriors trailed 3-0. Rocha has four goals during her past two games.
The only unbeaten, untied team in the Valley, La Joya Juarez-Lincoln (10-0-0), jumped to No. 11 in the Class 6A poll while Harlingen (10-1-0) debuted at No. 20.