Valley girls soccer has increased its assault on the Class 5A state rankings.
In rankings released Monday, four Class 5A girls teams — three from District 31-5A — and one Class 6A team were among the top 25 teams in the Texas Girls Coaches Association statewide poll.
Sharyland High (7-0) came in at No. 2, while McAllen High (5-0) and McAllen Rowe (5-0-1) were No. 4 and No. 14, respectively. Donna High also made its first appearance. The Bravettes are 2-0-1 and are No. 25.
Harlingen South (3-0-1) was ranked No. 23 in the Class 6A poll. The Hawks played the McHi Bulldogs in McAllen on Monday night.
“To have four teams ranked, that’s insane, three from the same district,” McHi head coach Pat Arney said. “It’s flattering but I’d rather be in the top 15 at the end of the season and all we can do is win the games in front of us. Due to COVID-19, everyone is in the same boat.
All three McAllen schools — McHi, Rowe and McAllen Memorial — were ranked at one point in Class 6A last year. In fact, all three rose to as high as No. 3 before the season ended abruptly due to the pandemic.
“It says lot about the district, but that’s where we are now with Valley soccer,” Arney said. “The past few years, I feel we made a name for ourselves and Valley soccer is good.”
McHi kicks off its district schedule at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at McAllen Rowe, while Sharyland High travels to McAllen Memorial, also at 10:30 a.m. Saturday.
McAllen Rowe is off to another strong start, coming off a 17-0 start last year that catapulted the Warriors to No. 3 in the TGCA rankings. They finished the season 27-4 overall and third at 10-4 in district play, on a six-match winning streak (including an overtime win over La Joya Juarez-Lincoln). They were scheduled to play McAllen Memorial in the final regular season with second place in district going to the winner.
“We are kind of used to playing in a tough district the past few years and are used to that grind of a long season,” Rowe head coach John Martinez said. “What’s good about that is it prepares you for the playoffs.
“I think for the past six seasons we’ve had our first district match against McHi, but we want to make a long run in the playoffs and one of the goals is to make it to the state tournament. If you want to be the best, you’ve got to beat the best, the one at the top.”
Freshman Camila Gil has 15 goals for the Warriors this season.
Sharyland High moved up from fourth to second and sits only behind Dallas Highland Park in the state rankings. Senior Xochitl Nguma also has 15 goals, coming off a 68-goal performance last year and closing in on the Valley’s all-time goal-scoring record.
Donna High didn’t make the playoffs last year, finishing sixth out of seven teams, and only has three seniors this year, so second-year head coach Norma Medina was surprised when told of the breakthrough.
“I don’t believe we’ve been ranked before,” said Medina, who coached soccer at La Feria for nine years. “The girls have put the time and work in on fundamentals, controlling the ball, keeping possession and a lot of the girls are new at the varsity level and they are hungry and the veterans are teaching the young ones. The biggest thing has been the chemistry, the way they are playing together already.”
Junior Madelyn Park leads the Bravettes with 16 goals.
Harlingen South has had a tough schedule in its preseason, defeating Edinburg North (3-0), Edcouch-Elsa (3-1) and McAllen Memorial (2-1) before tying McAllen Rowe (3-3). The match against McHi was the final tune-up before entering District 32-6A competition at 6 p.m. Monday at Weslaco.
The Hawks are the defending District 32-6A champs, coming off an 8-2 district mark before the season was canceled.