McALLEN — The McAllen High girls soccer team has made a national top 50 ranking.
“It’s pretty amazing,” McAllen High head coach Pat Arney said. “I was telling the girls this is two years of hard work.”
The Bulldogs are sitting at the No. 10 spot nationally on the Top Drawer Soccer website (topdrawersoccer.com) Winter 2020 rankings that also include schools from Arizona, California, Florida, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. They are also ranked No. 3 in Texas.
“We’ve got to keep it going and make sure this isn’t a fluke,” Arney said. “When I started here 24 years ago I would have never dreamed somebody from the Valley would have been ranked that high in girls soccer.”
The Bulldogs, so far this season, have two Division I verbal commits in Ana Alaniz and Westyn Henderson. Goalkeeper Lexi Gonzalez could very well be in line for one.
They were ranked based off their 3-0 performance at the McAllen Soccer Showcase and are now riding a 7-1 record.
The Bulldogs rolled through the showcase, shutting out their opponents with a combined 15-0 score, beginning with their 3-0 win against Corpus Christi King that earned the team, and Arney, their 500th win.
“We’ve come such a long way,” Arney said about the national ranking. “You look at some other programs in the Valley and they are not far behind us, if at all.”