CORPUS CHRISTI — Savannah Ruiz didn’t see teammate Julianna Millin streaking toward the goal.
“All I did was hear her and I sent the ball,” Ruiz said.
What transpired was a beautiful no-look pass that hit Millin perfectly in full stride for the first of her three goals as McAllen High claimed a 5-0 victory over Corpus Christi Veterans on Monday in the UIL Region IV-5A area match at the Cabaniss Sports Complex.
The win sets up a Region IV-5A quarterfinal against the winner of Victoria West and Brownsville Porter, which play tonight.
The seven-time defending District 31-5A champions dominated a very aggressive Eagles squad, outshooting them on goal unofficially 14-1.
Ruiz scored the game’s first goal and was part of a picture perfect give-and-go with Briana Claudio that ended with a goal from Mallory Henderson for the next score. The Bulldogs led 2-0 at the half and the defense kept in check Eagles’ heavy hitters Victoria Torre and Jordan Lotts. Lotts, found two openings early in the first half, using her speed to set up those attempts. However, the Bulldogs’ was up to the task of keeping her almost non-existant the rest of the match.
“I think today I knew I had to find one of the forward’s feet because you could tell they were man-marking us,” Ruiz said. “They were playing tight in the middle and are an aggressive team. We had to keep the ball moving.”
“The defense, I couldn’t be any more proud of,” McAllen High head coach Pat Arney said. “Charlotte Beck had so many headers, one after another and kept those balls in play. Karla Paredes came off the bench and played a great, complete game for us.”
Millin scored her second goal after being brought down in the penalty box. Eagles keeper Clarissa Carmona saved the shot, diving to her left but couldn’t control it and Millin, a freshman who scored 27 district goals this season, followed it in and knocked it into the corner of the net for a 4-0 lead. She has 40 total goals for the season.
“I definitely knew I wanted to take it. I’ve had some difficulties with penalty kicks in the past,” she said. “Unfortunately, I didn’t finish it with the first one but knew if a rebound like that happened I had to be there and I was.”
Millin scored again on a one-on-one, toying with the defender with a variety of moves before dancing away from the defender, finding an opening and completing the hat trick.
“I knew she was closing out the middle in previous plays where I tried to cut her off and get a shot off,” Millin said. “So I just took her wide and shot for the far post.”
The Bulldogs have outscored their two playoff opponents by a combined 13-0 this postseason.
“The girls are playing phenomenal right now. They’re clicking,” Arney said. “They are going to the ball. They are attacking. It’s fun to watch, it’s hard to defend, we’ve got a lot of weapons and I think we’ve still got more to do, to be firing on all pistons. “