GREG LUCA | STAFF WRITER
PHARR — When Lizeth Cantu joined the PSJA Southwest girls soccer team as a freshman, she was one of only eight players in the second-year program. That season, the first under coach Juan Rodriguez, the Lady Javelinas went 1-7 in district play, scoring just five goals.
“We were a sucky team my freshman year,” Cantu said. “I remember, like, we didn’t even score. Everyone would score on us.”
In the three years since, however, PSJA Southwest has transformed itself into a District 32-5A champion, and Cantu has become one of the district’s top players.
Southwest will try to make history again this week, looking to advance to the third round of the playoffs for the first time in a matchup with Gregory-Portland at 7 p.m. Friday in Alice.
“Since my freshman year, we’ve grown a lot,” Cantu said. “We’ve progressed a lot mentally, technically, everything. We’re way better.”
This season, PSJA Southwest went 12-2 in district, scoring 44 goals, including a team-best 17 by Cantu, the squad’s lone four-year varsity player.
Her play is a far cry from when she entered the fledgling program as a striker, earning the nickname “Flaca” — “skinny” in Spanish — for her diminutive frame.
“She’s no longer skinny, she’s pretty fit,” Rodriguez said. “Now, she understands the game really well. … She used to hold the ball a lot. Now, no more. She passes most of the time perfectly.”
Because of her mental approach and understanding of the game, Cantu found a home as a midfielder at Southwest.
She said the biggest adjustment was building stamina at the more running-intensive position, and she had to learn to be more composed within games.
“I used to get mad at myself every time I missed the ball,” Cantu said. “Every time I missed the ball, I would be pissed at myself. I couldn’t even play good anymore. My coach will always be there to tell me, ‘You’re the one carrying the team. You have to be there. You have to concentrate on what you’re doing.’ I guess, over time, it just came to me.”
Cantu used to rely on her strong leg, which allows her to score goals from as far out as the midfield. This season, she became more comfortable playing with her left foot. When she was starting out, she would shy away from using her non-dominant side, especially after tearing her left ACL on a slide tackle during an offseason practice following her sophomore year. Wanting to improve in that area, Cantu stayed an extra five minutes after practice each day, using just her left foot to play one-on-one with the goalie.
“I wouldn’t even try to kick with my left (back then),” Cantu said. “This year, I worked a lot with my left, and I can kick now.”
As Cantu raised her game, so have the players around her.
Back in 2013, Rodriguez would take any help he could get, working the halls to try to recruit students to join the team.
He said the majority of his varsity squad had never touched a soccer ball before arriving to high school. Now, three years later, Rodriguez had to cut seniors who had been fixtures on last year’s team but hadn’t done enough during the offseason to keep pace with the rising level of play.
Instead of running just one or two formations, Rodriguez is comfortable switching between four or five different sets.
“The practices are more intense now,” senior captain Lizeth Rodriguez said. “We’ve gotten to know that we can do this as a team. Practices since sophomore year are harder.”
All along, coach Rodriguez had targeted this season, with his first group of fourth-year players, as an opportunity to win the district title. Sophomore Jennifer Gaitan said she didn’t always believe it would be possible, but players convinced each other they had what it took through a group text message during the season.
One of the players edited a photo of the team to show them as district champions, and someone would resend it to the group before every big game.
When PSJA Southwest beat Brownsville Pace in the final match of the regular season to secure the district title by a one-point margin, Cantu and Lizeth Rodriguez said they started to cry. Gaitan said the players sprayed each other and coach Rodriguez with water, so much so that coach Rodriguez fell ill the next day.
The Lady Javelinas still have more they hope to accomplish in the playoffs, but coach Rodriguez said he is pleased with the legacy the 2016 team will leave behind.
“This is our top point,” Rodriguez said. “Something had to come out of this. After four years, they know what to do. They know my preseason. They know my postseason. They know what we expect of them on the field. And, of course, it showed up.”