By ROY HESS | THE BROWNSVILLE HERALD
Perhaps, more than anything, the McAllen Memorial Lady Mustangs are survivors.
To prove it, they have the Gold Division championship trophy for winning the 19th annual Brownsville ISD girls soccer tournament on Saturday.
The three-day, 32-team tournament running Thursday through Saturday at Brownsville Sports Park was a test of endurance with 126 games scheduled in all.
The Lady Mustangs weathered some long days, windy conditions, cooler temperatures in the 40s at night plus the challenge of playing 10 matches in three days.
Yet, it was all worthwhile when they rallied to defeat Pace 2-1 in Saturday’s Gold Division final.
“We had seven pool-play games (Thursday and Friday) and the first day we got here at 8 a.m. and our last scheduled game that day was 8 p.m.,” McAllen Memorial coach Matthew Kaiser said. “It was another long day Friday as we played at 8 a.m. again. Tournaments are great and horrible at the same time. But I like that our girls didn’t make excuses. They just found a way to win. When you get to the end of the tournament, you want to be able to say that everything we were up against, we found a way to overcome it.
“That’s what you want your team to get out of tournaments,” he added. “You always want to be moving forward, improving and not letting things bring you down, so I’m proud of these girls for that.”
In Saturday’s final, Pace went up 1-0 in the first half on a goal by Ariana Garcia. In the second half, Andrea Santana scored twice for the Lady Mustangs to provide her team with the comeback victory.
McAllen Memorial opened the day with a 1-0 win against Edinburg Vela in the quarterfinals as Carolina Guerrero tallied the Lady Mustangs’ lone goal. In the semifinals, Santana, Araceli Ramirez and Viviana Cruz each scored to give the Lady Mustangs a 3-0 victory against Donna High.
On the way home, Kaiser let his team choose the tournament MVP. The Lady Mustangs selected Victoria Tanguma, the team’s goalkeeper.
Pace reached the final by defeating Laredo United 1-0 in the quarterfinals and Brownsville Veterans Memorial 1-0 in the semifinals.
“It wasn’t just the final, but all the games we had in this tournament were completely tough — every single one of them,” Lady Vikings coach Jesus O. Villarreal said. “This is a very competitive tournament. You come out here, and sooner or later, you’re going to find out your team’s deficiencies because some other team is going to make you see them whether you like it or not.
“Thanks to God that we had a chance to play all the way to the championship,” Villarreal added. “It’s a long tournament and it’s tough, but I am taking away very positive things from it. I think we’ll be a strong team to face in future games.”
The top two teams in each of the four groups of pool play over the first two days advanced to Saturday’s Gold Division quarterfinals, while the third- and fourth-place teams in each group qualified for the Silver Division quarterfinals.
Saturday’s winner of the Silver Division was Harlingen High. The Lady Cardinals’ Alexa Gonzalez, a freshman, tallied the only goal of the match in Harlingen High’s 1-0 victory against San Benito in the Silver Division final.
Roy Hess covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @HessRgehess