NATHANIEL MATA | STAFF WRITER
McALLEN — The McAllen Rowe Warriors took lumps and bruises, but none on the scoreboard as they shut out PSJA High 3-0 in area round action Tuesday night.
Both teams were missing key roster pieces prior to kickoff. Rowe was without freshman striker Alexa Garza due to injury, while PSJA was without the talents of junior Maritza Capuchino due to a red card issued during the bi-district round.
“We just stuck together, fought back and became physical, too,” Rowe senior defender Veronica Dougherty said. “It was through the hard work and going to the weight room and all season. It’s all getting stronger, getting faster, getting better.”
The Warriors were dangerous on home turf from the opening kick. Much of their first-half offense was generated by midfield wingers Ilse Zecca and Emily Morin.
Zecca was speedy on the ball early and provided service into the box from the left wing on multiple occasions before finding a breakthrough.
Finally, 12 minutes into the game, sophomore Leann Noriega got on the end of one of those passes. The Warriors, third-place finishers in the ultra-competitive District 30-6A, were off and running.
Before Rowe padded its lead, PSJA High sent balls onto the feet of creative forward Sydney Escobar. She was locked in a tough battle with Rowe’s defenders, namely Dougherty.
Escobar had the Bears’ best scoring chance of the game when she found herself a step behind the Warriors’ back line, but she hit the ball just wide of the post and Rowe keeper Hethyr Moore.
Five minutes later, the Warriors doubled their lead, cashing in on a miscue by Bears freshman keeper Brianna Baez. After the goalie dropped a saved shot from Sabina Sanchez, Zecca got a toe on the ball to squeeze it past Baez and a desperation sprawl from a PSJA defender.
Dougherty, Rowe’s lone senior, said jumping out to leads is ideal compared to letting the game get into tense moments, as it did during Rowe’s 3-2 bi-district win over San Antonio Southwest.
“It takes a huge weight off of your shoulders while you’re playing through the game,” Dougherty said. “I know some teams start to feel frustrated, feel flustered, and then everyone wants to go up and score.”
The rest of the first half was defined more by injuries than anything else. The game was stopped five times due to injuries, including a head-to-head collision on a header in which both players seemed to avoid the worst-case scenario.
Rowe’s midfielders drew contact, but at the cost of some Warriors coming up limping after challenges.
“We have a next-person-up mentality,” Rowe coach John Martinez said. “We had a couple girls go down, and they came in there and did a great job. It wasn’t a drop-off. We knew they were going to be physical, and we knew if we went up on them, they’d be that much more physical. I thought with our talent, we’d be able to get by them.”
Rowe’s Sanchez and PSJA’s goalie ran hard into each other on a loose ball that Baez was trying to keep away from the net. Both players took a while to get up but didn’t miss much time.
At the 15:01 mark of the second half, Sanchez scored her first high school playoff goal to put the game out of reach.
“It feels great, because I get to work with all the other girls,” Sanchez, a freshman, said. “We’re such a young team, but we put in a lot of work, and that’s what makes it work.”
Rowe had chances to widen the margin. Defender Natalia Vela had a trio of thunderous free kicks that were kept out, while Morin almost completed a highlight-reel score late when she controlled the ball through three defenders and hit the post from a severe angle.
The Warriors advance to the regional quarterfinals against a Brownsville Rivera team that came from behind to beat McAllen Memorial 3-2 on Tuesday.
“The feeling you get of wanting to win is what you want,” Noriega said. “We haven’t had this kind of team in a while to get in playoffs. We’re trying so hard together to push each other. We want it. So, of course, we take it serious for each other.”