McAllen High became the first girls soccer team from the Rio Grande Valley to advance to the state tournament, breaking that barrier in 2018.
It was one of the most significant accomplishments in Valley girls soccer. Following that, players and coaches began talking about “making state” instead of just hoping for “deep runs” into the playoffs.
The Bulldogs are part of another significant event Tuesday at they play on the road at Sharyland High. The 6 p.m. match is a battle for first place between two undefeated powerhouses in District 31-5A.
That, however, is a mere asterisk to the real significance. According to coaches and Valley sports aficionados, it may be the first time two Valley teams — in any sport — are facing each other while both ranked in the top 5 (or top 4 in this case) in the state.
McHi (6-0, 2-0) comes into the marquee matchup sitting at No. 4 according to the Texas Girls Coaches Association’s most recent poll while the Rattlers (9-0, 4-0) hold the No. 2 spot.
Soccer has been a successful sport for Valley teams, especially for the boys. Brownsville Porter has two state titles while Brownsville Rivera, Brownsville Lopez, Hidalgo and Sharyland High all have one apiece. Rivera, during the 2014-15 season, was ranked by some polls as not just No. 1 in the state, but No. 1 in the nation as well.
But, for at least Tuesday — and maybe throughout the year to postseason play — all eyes are on the Bulldogs and Rattlers in the first of two meetings this year.
“I’ve never heard of it. I’ve been doing this for 25 years and it’s nice to see other places in the state thing that we can play good soccer down here,” McHi head coach Pat Arney said. “It’s a big deal.”
McHi is coming off a season in which the team had high expectations. They were one win away from officially clinching a district title when the pandemic struck. Going into this season they lost three girls to major Division I soccer programs and others who were being recruited at that level but decided to focus fully on education.
Still, they keep churning out great players and have dominated all season with a highly skilled offense and defense. An extremely technical squad with short, crisp and accurate passing, along with plenty of speed helps keep the Bulldogs with an advantage in time of possession over most opponents. And the longer they have the ball, the fewer chances opponents have to score, and the more opportunities there are for McHi.
Sharyland has a different style of play as more of a quick strike team that focuses on getting the ball to senior star Xochitl Nguma, who earlier this season broke the all-time Valley girls scoring record of 146 goals in a career and heads into Tuesday’s match with 156 career scores. Head coach Mario Ribera calls it a “1-2 get the ball to Xochitl” style of play — much more straight forward and focused on longer passes and longer shots, from just about anywhere on the field.
“McHi has gotten to state and continues to be a powerful team. They have a seriously strong opponent in Sharyland,” said Juan De Dios, president of the RGV Soccer Coaches Association and former Valley coach for more than 30 years. “Where they are ranked is quite and honor an recognition. It’s going to be a great game.”
Both coaches are not taking this matchup lightly and they know the significance of it, for the district and for a glimpse of the future and postseason play.
“My biggest concern for my girls is not to get scared, playing a giant like McHi,” Ribera said. “I said since the beginning of the year that I thought we could hang with the McAllen schools and beating (McAllen) Memorial and (McAllen) Rowe gives us a lot of confidence. And it’s always good to play against great teams and ranked teams, especially McAllen. It’s exciting. I hope things come our way, but if not we’ll get back to it the next day.”
While the scoring machine Nguma will deservedly attract a lot of attention, the Rattlers also have other threats including Chloe Ribera and freshman Yhoalibeth Alvarez. All three are powerful strikers who will take shots on a moment’s notice.
“We need to execute and do what we do well. Use our speed and play like a team. We can’t rely on just one or two people,” Arney said. “Defensively we have to stop Xochitl and Chloe, make them have to make better plays, but keep an eye on the other girls.
“I think it will be interesting to see who makes a mistake. You make a mistake against a good team and you will be punished for it. We both have huge scoring teams but it could be a 1-0 game. If it is, hopefully it’s a good goal and not a fumble or something cruel or a mistake… but, that’s soccer.”
