McALLEN — McAllen ISD was a hotbed for girls soccer last season. The district’s three schools — McAllen High, McAllen Memorial and McAllen Rowe — finished as the top three in District 31-5A, respectively.
Some of the district’s top players have carried their success into the offseason, teaming up to compete alongside each other on the Houston Dynamo South Texas Academy’s girls under-19 team.
The 16-player squad, which includes 10 players from McAllen ISD, is one of four teams in the nation set to compete at the 2022 U.S. Youth Soccer National Presidents Cup beginning today at Bryan Park Field in Greensboro, North Carolina.
The 2022 U.S. Youth Soccer National Presidents Cup kicks off at 10 a.m. with pool play, each team playing each other once over three days. The top two teams from the pool face off at 10 a.m. Sunday in the championship game.
“This is huge. (Head coach) Gary (Hamilton) tries to put us in tournaments that challenge our team and whatever is available,” Dynamo STX GU19 assistant coach Ricardo Ochoa said. “There is really no league in McAllen or South Texas. Being able to join this tournament, it’s big for the girls. All this time we’ve been telling them they’re good, but they don’t have a chance to see it because we don’t have the leagues San Antonio or Dallas do. When we joined this cup, in a time where we were kind of doubting what was out there, they started winning and got to see they are good and can play at any level.”
The Dynamo STX GU19 punched its ticket to the national tournament after earning the South Texas Presidents Cup state championship in May and the Region III Southern Presidents Cup championship in June.
The team went 5-0 during the regional tournament, picking up wins over teams from Tennessee and Florida in bracket play to advance to the national tournament.
“Hopefully they now have the confidence to overcome that after seeing what they did at state and regionals. They’re going to be playing really tough teams from the other four regions in the U.S. It’s going to be some really tough teams, but hopefully they’ve developed that confidence to not only compete, but win.”
Despite playing for different teams during the school year, the players have meshed well in limited action, Ochoa said, with players from McAllen, Edinburg, Pharr, Mission and Weslaco on the roster.
The squad is made up of 13 athletes who earned all-district nods last season. McAllen High’s Hayley Nixon, the District 31-5A MVP, and McAllen Rowe’s Ayloni Garcia, District 31-5A’s Offensive MVP, are two of the team’s biggest names.
The Monitor’s 2022 All-Area Girls Soccer Utility Player of the Year Camila Gil and District 31-5A’s Utility Player of the Year Mallory Henderson also are integral members of the team. Sharyland Pioneer’s Allison Fanning and Weslaco High’s Isabella Montano are part of the squad, too. Both athletes earned first-team all-district honors in their respective districts.
“Whatever rivalries they have going in high school, that doesn’t play a part here,” Ochoa said. “They’ve played as a team and come together to work their way through whatever situation. It’s a really good team. Watching them play, you’d think they’ve been playing together for six or seven years.”
Ochoa hopes seeing the team’s success on a national level will lead to continued growth in soccer not only in McAllen, but across the Rio Grande Valley.
“Hopefully this will spread the word out,” he said. “We have a lot of girls who don’t play in clubs. Hopefully this opens it up to more girls playing soccer outside of high school. If you play in club teams, it’s going to elevate not just your game but your high school team’s game as well.”
