McALLEN – Julianna Millin scored twice and Lola Alvarado registered her first goal in district as McAllen High claimed a 3-2 win over city rival McAllen Memorial on Friday in a District 31-5A battle.
McHi improves to 2-1 in the district while Memorial drops to 1-2 after suffering its second straight 3-2 setback. The Mustangs fell by the same score Tuesday at Edinburg Vela.
Trailing 1-0 midway through the first half, Savannah Ruiz laid a beautiful corner kick to the back post, where Alvarado nailed a header into the open corner to tie the game.
“I tried to get my head on it but couldn’t,” Millin said. “I thought it went out of play but then heard the team cheering and saw the ball in the back of the net.”
Millin, last year’s All-Valley Girls Soccer Player of the Year as a freshman, then did what great scorers do: find themselves around the ball, and put it away.
With 16:53 remaining, Millin passed the ball wide to Milan Diaz at the 20. Milan took a few steps with the ball in stride before firing a shot from 20 yards. Memorial’s keeper saved the shot but the ball ricocheted out and a streaking Millin chipped the loose ball straight up into the net for a 2-1 lead.
Five minutes later after Memorial tied the game at 2, Diaz again attempted a shot from about 8 yards out only to be blocked by a Memorial defender. Once again, Millin — right place, right time — and with a quick left-footed sweep put the ball into the corner of the net for what proved to be the game-winner.
The sophomore has scored in all three of McHi’s district games thus far.
“Sometimes it’s better to be in the right place at the right time but I wouldn’t have scored those goals without by teammates and them pushing like they did,” Millin said. “This was a huge win, especially after the loss to (McAllen) Rowe. Hopefully this increases our confidence and we can carry that throughout the season.”
Memorial took a 1-0 lead after Sofia Alaniz-Choy launched a ball into orbit. After a high bounce and a little melee in front of the net, a quick foot gave the Mustangs a 1-0 lead. Rihanna Rodriguez and Cristela Sanchez each scored for Memorial.
“Both of their goals were similar tonight,” Millin said. “The ball was bouncing around in there, and we couldn’t clear it and they got a good foot on it.”
McHi returns to action at 6 p.m. Tuesday at home against Sharyland Pioneer. Memorial hosts Sharyland High, also at 6 p.m. Tuesday.