By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
HARLINGEN — Having won the District 32-6A championship this season in girls soccer, the Harlingen South Lady Hawks are hoping for a chance to have another strong showing in the playoffs, if possible.
It was their first district title since 2011 and the program’s 14th overall.
One year ago, the Lady Hawks, second-place finishers in 32-6A, put together a 23-4 overall season and advanced to the final of the Region IV-6A Tournament, missing out on a trip to the state tournament in Georgetown by just one victory.
With five starters returning this year and six newcomers in the lineup, mostly up from the junior varsity, the Lady Hawks faced a difficult challenge in a highly competitive 32-6A race, but they pulled it off, winning their final four matches to take first place in district with an 8-2 record and 23 points. They stand 18-6-1 overall.
The soccer season has been put on hold by the University Interscholastic League’s suspension of games and even team practices due to a heightened concern regarding the COVID-19 coronavirus. The playoffs originally were scheduled to start at the end of March, but now it appears the earliest the postseason could begin would be early May, if at all.
Right now, schools aren’t even in session. There appears to be a strong likelihood that soccer plus other spring sports are over for this school year.
Korynne Reininger, a junior sweeper for the Lady Hawks, is one of the players who would like to see her team get an opportunity to prove itself in the postseason.
She said the South girls beat the odds by capturing the district title.
“What I love about my team this year is that every single girl who played gave 100 percent on the field, and we never gave up, even if the other team scored first,” Reininger said. “We showed that we are fighters, and even though the predictions this year were that we would come in fifth in district, we did not let other people’s opinions get in the way of what we knew we could do.
“To win district was an amazing experience, but it was not a surprise for me,” Reininger added. “The experience of our coaches and of the girls from last year’s team reaching the Elite Eight level really translated to the upperclassmen as we all gave advice and showed what we had to do in order to get a district championship.
“The 2020 district title is an achievement our team will be proud of forever.”
Besides returning starter Reininger at sweeper, other members of the Lady Hawks’ starting lineup include Joana Marquez at goalkeeper, Dell Davis and Haley Danner at defender, Kimberly Torres, Gabrielle Martinez, Sandra Lopez and Olivia Olivarez at midfielder, Sarah Grace Flores-Garza at midfielder/forward, and Caroline Grannum and Isabel Aldan at forward.
Key contributors off the bench include Anahi Posada at forward and Samantha Pitts at defender.
It’s Omar Pedroza’s 24th year as the Lady Hawks’ coach. They’ve qualified for the playoffs during every one of his seasons in charge. Back in January, Pedroza recorded his 500th career coaching victory while guiding the team.
He said his 2020 squad was a determined group.
“We had such a great season last year, but we graduated a lot of good players,” the South coach said. “Coming into this season, I felt that we had five good girls who were coming back. I felt that if the other ones came along and we didn’t have any injuries, I believed we could do something. My main deal was just to make the playoffs, not win district, so that was nice (to do it).
“One thing that stands out about these girls is they’ve been very optimistic from the get-go,” Pedroza added. “They just fought like hell. Our district was so even. Every game was a fight every night. Our girls played so hard and never gave up. They were optimistic about our chances from the very beginning of the season. The girls never gave up, and things worked out well for us. We got better as the season went along.”
Added assistant coach Monica Silva, “Many people predicted that this team wouldn’t even make the playoffs because we only had five starters coming back, but our girls made it their mission to prove everybody wrong. They did it by coming together as a team and became a force to be reckoned with. They brought the 32-6A championship back to South.”