NATHANIEL MATA | STAFF WRITER
McALLEN – Edinburg Vela senior defender Alyssa Muniz is experiencing something different as she enters the 2019 soccer season. It’s the first time in her high school career she won’t have a new coach to start the season. The SaberCats will benefit from the continuity of a second season under head coach Americo Cortez.
“With coach Cortez, he teaches us a lot about unity,” Muniz said. “Unity helps the team be together on the field, chemistry, everybody passing it together; and not having any drama at all. He puts everyone where the team needs them, not where they (want to) play.”
Edinburg Vela finished runners-up in District 31-6A a season ago and hosted a bi-district match against Harlingen High last April.
In one of the craziest playoff games in the RGV a season ago, the Cardinals needed overtime to prevail 6-5 in an offensive explosion to eliminate the SaberCats.
Vela returns its best-attacking asset, Taylor Campbell, for her sophomore season after winning 31-6A Offensive Player of the Year honors as a freshman. She notched a hat trick in the bi-district heart-breaker and had 36 total goals during the season.
The sophomore is confident that the returners and newcomers to the team either from JV or even middle school will thrive under more time in the same system.
“Every year it’s just getting more and more stacked,” Campbell said. “So, now everyone’s been under coach Cortez for a year. Now we know how he goes, how he plays. No one is in surprise of what’s going to happen and what’s not.”
Vela boasts a number of juniors and sophomores who already have varsity and playoff experience. Speedy Danya Selber, Odessa Leal and Dayana Cantu return and still haven’t hit their senior year.
Campbell, who plays above the level of most 10th-graders, admitted her team might have taken their foot off the gas after a strong early part of 2018.
“Last year we had a really good start and then once district started we were kind of a little cocky,” Campbell said. “Like, over our heads. This year, we’re coming in strong – 100 percent – and we’re not going to let that happen again. Our goal is to get district champs and at least go further than the first round.”
During the first scrimmages of the 2018-19 season, just before the new year, Edinburg Vela was in McAllen for a tough slate of preseason games.
First, the SaberCats played McAllen High, which last year became the first RGV girls soccer team to reach the state tournament. Then, Vela tried to exorcise its demons when it faced Harlingen.
“We want to play all the good teams at the beginning, that way we can see where they are at,” Cortez said. “This was a good challenge, McHi was third last year in the state it’s a very good team and we wanted to play them.”
Vela stayed close but fell to McHi 2-1, played to a 0-0 draw with Harlingen and topped Laredo United 2-0 in the pre-January scrimmages.
Muniz and the defense will be key to stopping higher powered teams as the season goes on and a potential playoff season emerges.
“After district, we’re going to hopefully have playoffs after that,” Muniz said. “This will help us be more ready for the upcoming teams we’re going to play against hopefully to state. Like McHi, we know they went to state last year so it’s going to help us know where to work on. Either defense or coming back more, having more defensive mids, anything like that. (We can) see our potential within other teams.”
Girls soccer landscape
With the McHi Bulldogs winning the 2018 Class 6A Region IV Tournament and advancing to state in Georgetown, a breath of new hope has reached girls programs around the Valley.
The 2019 season will show whether McHi is head and shoulders above the next best RGV teams or if the gap has shrunk and more contenders have a legitimate shot at regional success.
In class 6A, knocking the Bulldogs off won’t be easy. One of their many impressive attributes on their road to state was the youth of key star players. Texas A&M commit Westyn Henderson and University of Houston commit Ava Alaniz are just juniors entering this season. The Monitor Defensive player of the Year Lexi Gonzalez signed over the summer to play for Oregon State in volleyball. Depth is one thing that sets the Bulldogs apart.
District 30-6A will be an interesting race to watch as McAllen Rowe and McAllen Memorial try to keep up with their crosstown rivals. La Joya Juarez-Lincoln has the potential to follow in the footsteps of their boy’s program and make noise after making the playoffs a season ago. With the addition of PSJA High there are five 2018 playoff teams vying for four spots.
The four Edinburg schools all have the potential to qualify for the playoffs, but they are joined by one of the toughest teams who moved due to realignment, Donna North.
In 31-5A, there are more question marks than answers with Sharyland High saying goodbye to Kaitie Watson and Elise Townsend while their sister campus, Sharyland Pioneer, graduated four-year starter Andrea Reyes. The area is rich with soccer talent but it may take time for a youngster to dominate in the same way. The district will also add PSJA Memorial, PSJA Southwest and La Joya Palmview to provide more depth.
Edcouch-Elsa, Mercedes and Donna High will have a tough mountain to climb as they face the gauntlet of 5A Brownsville teams. Brownsville Pace and Brownsville Veterans should establish themselves as frontrunners.
Class 4A saw playoff winners from Edinburg IDEA Quest, Hidalgo and Grulla in 2018.
RGVSports.com Preseason Girls Top 10
1. McAllen High
2. Harlingen South
3. Harlingen High
4. McAllen Memorial
5. Edinburg Vela
6. Los Fresnos
7. Brownsville Pace
8. Sharyland High
9. Donna North
10. La Joya Juarez-Lincoln