EDINBURG — North Mission IDEA’s Melany Rubio scored an equalizer with 30 seconds left in regulation of the Warriors’ Region IV-4A area round playoff game against Hidalgo on Tuesday at H-E-B Park.
But Hidalgo’s Jayline Garcia refused to let the Pirates taste defeat as she scored the game winner 17 minutes into overtime to push Hidalgo past North Mission IDEA 3-2 and into the regional quarterfinals.
“That second goal for the tie came in with 30 seconds left in regulation. They dropped down a little bit, but I told them, ‘Character needs to come out’, and it did,” Hidalgo head coach Frank Alday said. “I’m so proud of them. They did a hell of a job today and finished it strong.”
Garcia recorded a hat trick to lead the Pirates past the Warriors. She also tied the school’s single-season record with 43 goals in the process.
“It’s really sentimental. I really fought for this. I pour my heart into this and I’m proud of every single one of our players,” Garcia said. “I poured all my anger into the second half (of overtime) because I was really mad that we gave up the tie with seconds left.”
Hidalgo took a 2-0 lead thanks to a pair of first half goals from Garcia. North Mission IDEA’s Rubio answered during the 32nd minute with her first score and punched in her second during the final minute of regulation.
Hidalgo captain Maily Quintanilla said the Pirates sulked for a second before rallying around each other to push past the Warriors in overtime.
“To be honest, at first we cried a little bit. Our hearts fell down, but we got in a circle and talked it out,” she said. “We saw this is what happened and this is how we’re going to fix it, and we were able to fix it.”
North Mission IDEA’s girls soccer program ends its first season of competition at the UIL level in the area round after capturing a District 30-4A championship.
“It could have gone either way,” North Mission IDEA head coach Jose Ramon said. “I think the wind played a big factor. They got the favor of the wind the first half and they took advantage of it. They won it. We competed and we did our best. We have to learn from this and build on it next year.”
