BROWNSVILLE – Wrilyn Shippey scored on a free kick from 40 yards out and Smithson Valley advanced to next week’s UIL Class 5A state tournament with a 1-0 victory over McAllen High on Saturday at the Brownsville Sports Complex.
Shippey scored with 2:36 remaining against a tenacious McAllen High defense that played its finest game of the year on a day it required perfection against a 27-0 team that has outscored opponents 26-3 in four playoff games.
The Rangers were challenged just a few times this year, including a 2-1 win over Leander during an early season tournament. McAllen High defeated Leander 2-1 to set up the match against Smithson Valley. The Rangers scored 132 goals this season and allowed nine.
The goal overshadowed arguably the performance of the year across the Valley from goalkeeper Allison Tawil. The sophomore registered more than a dozen saves. She dove, fell, and jumped and collapsed – whatever it took – all over the penalty box in what could be described as an elite performance against an offense that that jus kept reloading. The Rangers controlled the ball for close to 85% of the second half and unleashed a flurry of shots.
“I just follow the ball and go with my heart and my gut,” Tawil said. “In the beginning, I was frantic and freaking out. Toward the end I started calming down and the save on the PK calmed me down. I knew where she was going because she looked at the right corner when the referee started.”
The shot that got to the back of the net came off a replay after Shippey took the free kick prior to the whistle blowing. In Texas UIL that is not a penalty, but a rekick. Shippey hit a low line drive that skid along the grass before reaching, and passing Tawil.
“I thought we had them after Allie made that save,” McAllen High head coach Patrick Arney said. “Our chance is coming. The longer the game went I thought the better it was for us. We’re going to get it and that’s all we needed, one chance. We just didn’t get it.”
Earlier in the half, among all the goal-saving stops, Tawil also stopped a penalty kick with 36:08 remaining as Smithson Valley amped up the offensive pressure. During the next seven minutes, she made no fewer than five more saves and the lone time she wasn’t where the ball was, sophomore teammate Gabby Gonzalez was in goal playing defense and rejected another attempt.
The McHi defense was also playing on point, stopping a team that averaged more than five goals per game this season. Gonzalez was all over the field from sideline to sideline and endline to endline. Maisen Dubrule had what coaches said may have been her best performance of the year, parroting what they said after the previous match against Leander. Time and again Haley Nixon and Camille Diaz sent balls back to midfield following another onslaught of Rangers attempts, led by University of Cincinnati commit Sabrina Taber, who scored twice on Friday against McAllen Memorial in a 6-0 win.
“The played exactly the way I expected them to play,” Smithson Valley head coach Jason Adkins said. “We watched them yesterday and saw film from earlier this year. I knew it was going to be a very physical game and that they played very direct and defensively would sit in a little bit and that’s what they did.
“But we controlled the second half and deserved to get the winner there.”
The Bulldogs were looking to become the second Valley girls team to advance to the state semifinals, doing so in 2018 when they upset Austin Westlake 1-0.
“Playing OT yesterday and the way we play with a lot of running, I hate to admit it but the girls just gassed out. They didn’t have enough in the tank for that one chance. I thought it was coming. Allie played awesome, the best game I’ve seen her play with a save here and a save there and the crosses going in and the defense and midfield was outstanding.
“I really believe in these girls and they have done so much. So many of them just needed the chance and I’m proud of them and all they accomplished.”