By STEFAN MODRICH, Staff Writer
HARLINGEN — Coming off of a 2019 season in which the Harlingen South Lady Hawks went 23-4 and came within one win of reaching the University Interscholastic League Class 6A state tournament, expectations for coach Omar Pedroza were sky-high.
Pedroza guided his squad to an 18-6-1 overall record when the UIL suspended the season due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. The Lady Hawks posted an 8-2 mark in District 32-6A play and captured Harlingen South’s first district title since 2011 and the 14th in program history.
For those efforts, Pedroza, has been named the Valley Morning Star’s 2020 All-STAR Girls Soccer Coach of the Year.
As much as he and his team would be thrilled to have the opportunity to try to top their storybook playoff run, Pedroza isn’t bullish on the prospects of the season resuming, noting conflicts with state testing and graduations that will take precedence in terms of rescheduling events affected by the pandemic.
“In my personal opinion, I don’t see it,” Pedroza said. “I don’t see how it would be possible for us to get back and try to finish out the year. … It’s going to be very difficult.”
But as far as what Pedroza and the Lady Hawks were able to control — their play on the field — he has no regrets or reservations about the 2020 season.
“I’m really happy with the way things have turned out,” Pedroza said. “We won district, which is something we hadn’t done in a while. I was really happy for the girls to be able to do that. … We were just trying to work hard to make the playoffs, and so to end up winning district is really something else.”
In addition, the longtime coach — the longest tenured high school girls soccer coach in the Rio Grande Valley, alongside McAllen High coach Pat Arney — just completed his 24th season, and both coaches earned their 500th career victories in 2020. Pedroza entered the year at 495 wins and reached the milestone Jan. 11 at the Edinburg CISD tournament.
“Personally it’s been a special year for me,” Pedroza said. “Last year, when we finished that last game (the Region IV-6A final) against (Austin Lake Travis), I knew we were five games away from 500. So we knew it could happen this year. (Reaching the mark) this early in the year with this group of girls, it (was) really great.”
Pedroza and assistant coach Monica Silva knew replacing the offensive production of Alise Garza and Mellory Grannum and the defensive prowess of Jackie Guillen and goalkeeper Reid Davis was a tall task.
But Harlingen South’s five returning starters all elevated their games, including sophomore midfielder Sarah Grace Garza, the Lady Hawks’ leading goal scorer, and junior Korynne Reininger, the team’s top defender.
South’s coach has been able to continue developing talent at all levels of the program, finding roles for players to contribute and gain varsity experience year after year.
“We had four girls (move up) from JV dark that were starters this year,” Pedroza said. “They got better and better as the year went on. We had to have a lot of help because last year we lost a high-level group of girls.”
That’s why, Pedroza believes, “we were able to surprise some people” and win the district crown.
In nearly a quarter century of coaching at South, he said that just about each time he ever wondered whether or not a particular team might have had what it took to compete at the level the Lady Hawks have become accustomed to, he’s been happy to have had those internal doubts silenced.
“The girls always step up,” Pedroza said. “Every year the girls step up. All the girls who played on JV dark this year, they were outstanding. At the beginning of the year, it’s always like, ‘Oh, how are we going to do this year?’ And as the season goes on, (the girls) just get better and better. I’ve been blessed with the kind of talent that we have at South.”