(First in a three-part series)
Three girls in the Rio Grande Valley have broken the previous all-time scoring record, which was 146 at the beginning of the season. Beginning today and for the next three days, The Monitor and RGVSports.com will feature each of these athletes for their accomplishments.
For years, Edinburg North’s girls soccer team has been a large, sharp thorn in the sides of its opponents. Its defense has gone multiple games at a time, and hundreds of minutes, without giving up a goal during recent seasons.
So, when Donna North’s Gabriella Aviles, then a junior, ran down a perfectly placed through pass from teammate Nancy Espino and found herself one-one-one with a charging Edinburg North first-team all-district goalkeeper, Aviles did what she’s made a high school career of doing — she scored. Donna North won that District 31-6A battle, 1-0.
During a year still dominated by COVID-19, Aviles is one of three Rio Grande Valley girls soccer players who are amazingly rewriting the record book. Coming into the 2021 season, former Sharyland High star Katie Watson held the Valley’s all-time career scoring record with 146 goals. This season, Aviles, Edinburg Vela’s Taylor Campbell and Sharyland High’s Xochitl Nguma have all broken — well, shattered — that record and continue to score at hyperspeed.
Today, Aviles has 160 career goals, while Campbell sits at 170. Nguma leads the pack at 175. The three have dominated the pitch throughout their careers, scoring a combined 505 goals.
Donna North has five district matches left, Sharyland High has two and Edinburg Vela is done with regular season. All three teams are bound for the playoffs.
“There were about six minutes remaining and Gabby scored on a play that developed so beautifully,” Donna North head coach Tony Garcia said of the Edinburg North match. “Nancy (Espino) got the ball, dribbled it and passed it to Gabby who gave it back to Nancy and then Nancy sent that pass. Gabby outran one defender and their keeper came out, one on one.
“Gabby majestically put it between her legs and we went crazy with that goal.”
It was Aviles’ 17th birthday, and her 100th career goal.
“I talked to her dad about it the prior weekend,” Garcia said. “We didn’t want to tell her and add pressure.”
Aviles is a natural on the soccer field, especially at scoring. She takes that responsibility as if it was a job, and she performs her job duties at the highest level.
“Her mentality is this: She’s not worried about how many she’s scored. She goes into each game thinking my defense and keeper are going to make the stop. The midfielders are going to push the ball and they will set me up. It’s just that’s what is required of her and she does her job just like that.
“She knows she’s going to score because that’s her task, but she’s also thankful for the rest of the players for getting her that ball,” Garcia said. “She’s not about ‘me,’ but ‘we.’”
Espino — Aviles’ classmate, teammate and friend — said Aviles is an amazing player who is always an example to follow. While Espino is effective putting the ball in the back of the net, she also knows that setting up Aviles is her task. Their specific “job descriptions” make them one of the most dangerous and successful combinations in South Texas.
“She’s a very important factor to our team, not just as a player but a leader,” said Espino, adding she and Aviles have been friends since middle school while playing for the McAllen Sharks club team. “Her energy and willingness to always do her best radiates throughout our team and pushes ourselves to do better.”
It was during her early teen years, when Aviles realized this could be a sport she could not only enjoy, but also excel in. She was already a solid defensive specialist on the volleyball court but took her soccer skills to another level.
“I was playing in a club game in a tournament and it was really close and toward the end I scored and we ended up winning,” Aviles said. “I knew then I could do well in this sport, as long as I put the work in.”
It may look easy for all three soccer stars the way they score; all their graceful yet lethal moves seem choreographed as they dance around — and sometimes over or through — traffic jams of defenders whose only goal is to stop the offensive train coming at them — then going by them. Each girl is marked, sometimes by multiple defenders, but the goals keep coming.
Aviles has a unique mixture of skills, technical abilities and the ferocity to go into a crowd and physically battle until she comes out of the scrum with the ball. Like the best of the best at any level of athletics, the most common denominator is immense discipline and an even greater work ethic. This is the same for Aviles, who said during the harshest part of the COVID-19 pandemic, when it seemed everything was under lock and key, she was still practicing with her father and working on keeping her high-level skills as close to their peak as possible.
“I tried to make every practice, and go to any extra practices, just trying to prepare for the upcoming season,” Aviles said.
“Just as she’s a great teammate, she’s even a greater friend,” Espino said. “She always makes sure everything gets done, regardless of how much is going on. She’s such an inspiration and I love sharing the field with her along with having her as a friend.”