GREG LUCA | STAFF WRITER
McALLEN — Senior Alyssa Adriano has become more of a distributor for the McAllen Memorial Lady Mustangs soccer team this season, but on Thursday she played the role of finisher.
Adriano scored Memorial’s lone goal off a corner kick as the Lady Mustangs defeated the Brownsville Hanna Golden Eagles 1-0 in an area-round playoff game at Boxer Hernandez Stadium on the campus of McAllen Memorial High School.
“As soon as I saw the ball coming to me, I prepared myself with my left,” Adriano said. “I took a shot and I was like, ‘It had to go in.’ And, of course, it went in. It was an amazing goal.”
Adriano’s tally came off a feed from Connie Avila with 31:08 to play in the first half. Coach Matthew Kaiser said Adriano was “the perfect person in that spot” because of her ability to stay calm and finish the volley with the side of her foot.
“When you get the ball bouncing that way, you start to get big eyes, and you want to kill it and break the net,” Kaiser said. “She just stayed cool, got on top of the ball with a side volley, and put it in the back of the net.”
After scoring 13 goals during district play last season, Adriano slid into the role of distributor this year.
She scored just four times this district season, but had about two times that total in assists.
“There were some growing pains along the way, but I think now she understands it,” Kaiser said. “And when we need her to, she can still score goals, just like today. She’s that dangerous player where she can make the assist, or she can make the goal, and you always have to be aware of where she’s at.”
Indeed, Adriano said playing without last season’s leading scorer, America Martinez, was a major adjustment, at first.
But she and the rest of the Lady Mustangs have shown no signs of slowing down, cruising to an 11-1 finish and a District 30-6A title before crushing Laredo LBJ 5-0 last week in the bi-district round of the playoffs.
“At the beginning, I was kind of lost,” Adriano said. “But then, I got used to it as the season kept going on. Now we’re in playoffs, so we have to give it all. It’s my senior year, and I want to advance to state and everything. That’s my dream.”
The Lady Mustangs got one step closer on Thursday by dominating possession. Hanna tried to pressure Memorial whenever possible, but the Lady Mustangs consistently thwarted their efforts with sharp passing and crisp dribbling from players such as Avila, Leslie Flores and Cameron Alaniz.
“When we take our time, that passing game, and the possession game, can really kill you,” Kaiser said. “We were limiting it to one touch, or two touches, and I think that was the key for us.”
Memorial was able to generate just a handful of shots on goal, but that total far outpaced Hanna’s. The Lady Eagles didn’t get a real look at net until just 9:15 remained on the clock, when Natalie Garcia fired a shot from about 20 yards out.
Garcia has been the Lady Eagles’ go-to scorer all season, and Kaiser said the Lady Mustangs schemed to take her away by controlling the ball.
Natalie Young, Jessica Coronado, Gina De La Garza and Amy Guthrie were all key to the defensive effort.
Memorial advances to face either Del Rio or Harlingen South in the regional quarterfinals.
“I feel pretty good. If we keep working hard how we have been throughout the season,” Adriano said, “it should be great.”