McALLEN — For her first three years playing girls soccer at McAllen Rowe, Sabina Sanchez performed like an all-district player and, rightly so, earned three all-district honors.
This year, however, Rowe head coach John Martinez moved her from the forward spot to wing. For Sanchez, the transition was seamless since that’s where she played for her club soccer team. For Rowe, the transition paid dividends immediately and for the entirety of the season as the Warriors claimed a 20-5-1 record, captured third place in a loaded District 31-5A and advanced to the second round of the Class 5A playoffs.
The Warriors collected an 87-24-3 record during Sanchez’s four years. Now, she’s taking her skills and endless work ethic to the next level. Sanchez, the Warriors’ four-time offensive MVP, signed her national letter of intent Friday to continue her academic and athletic career at Southwestern University, an NCAA Division III university that plays in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference.
Martinez said after the team graduated its left wing from the past three seasons, he needed to find someone to fill that crucial position. Sanchez, who had offered to move from the glory position of forward to the grit-and-grind midfield spot throughout her first three years, fit that spot perfectly.
“That was our big question, how to fill that spot,” Martinez said. “All season, she dominated that side. Wings have to play from end line to end line and she was up for that challenge. She always had said if we needed her, she would play it but we needed someone up top who could take on a defender and score.”
Sanchez still scored, finishing the season with 12 goals and a career with 62 goals. However, with freshman offensive juggernaut Camila Gil on the scene, the move to send Sanchez to the wing was beneficial for everyone involved. While her goal total was the lowest in her four years, she contributed with pinpoint accuracy passing and ended up with 16 assists.
“She was so comfortable at the position,” Martinez said. “I liked to say she’s playing chess while the other girls are playing checkers. She gets the balls, sees the lanes, can hit the through passes. She knows what she was going to do with the ball before she even got it. If you have someone out there who can do that, you will definitely have a lot of success.”
Likewise, Sanchez said the move placed her in a spot she was familiar with and allowed her to showcase her greatest strengths.
“Moving to wing was a big step for me,” she said. “I felt like this year I was able to help out team a lot more from the wing. I had a bunch of assists and feel like I specialize in that more than as a forward. But there is too much running there.”
Sanchez said she wasn’t thinking about playing in college until Martinez, who also played at Southwestern from 2003-07, started talking to her about it.
“He thought I should pursue soccer in college,” Sanchez said. “So I emailed the coach and invited him to some of my clubs games (with the RGV Classic Elite) and emailed me back and that was it.
“I went up there and it was so pretty and my friend (Melanie Saldaña) from McHi is going there, too, so that’s great.”
Sanchez plans to study business or biology for pre-med while as Southwestern.