Herald All-Metro Girls Soccer: Romero earns MVP honors

Every time Brownsville Porter junior midfielder Denisse Romero steps on the field, opponents know how dangerous she is.

Even with teams trying to stop her, Romero has continued to be the center point of the Cowgirls’ success, which included a District 32-5A co-championship this season. She scored more than 20 goals and assisted on 80 percent of Porter’s scoring. Romero is The Brownsville Herald’s 2021 All-Metro Girls Soccer Most Valuable Player.

“I feel very happy and very grateful to win this award again,” said Romero, the 2019-20 MVP. “This continues showing that all hard work pays off. I keep working, keep pushing myself to continue to get better in hopes of it all paying off in the future.

“Truth is, this was achieved because of the hard work by each of my teammates. All hard work has its reward, and ours was winning district again,” she added.

Porter coach Abraham Gracia called Romero “a great practice player” and said her constantly playing gives her confidence and makes her an incredible player. He said her scoring numbers were down this year, not because she couldn’t score but because she selflessly chose to give her teammates more opportunities.

“There was a lot of games that she had, like, a landmark, one girl on her all the time. She works around it. She’s one of the best players we’ve had. She leads by example,” Gracia said. “She didn’t have as many goals because she’d rather pass the ball than score herself. If she sees you have a better chance, she’ll pass even though she could’ve finished herself.”

Romero said “mentality, responsibility and humility” are the keys that keep her successful and achieving her goals. She has a strong support system behind her that she continues to make proud as she brings historic success to the Cowgirls.

“First, thanks to my family for their unconditional support no matter where they are,” Romero said. “Thanks to my coaches and my teammates for their support on and off the field. Also to my school and everyone else that has supported me throughout my sports career.”

Co-Offensive Player of the Year
Ana Barragan, Brownsville Hanna

Barragan, a junior, has only played two seasons of soccer in the Rio Grande Valley, but she has cemented herself as one of the most dangerous scorers in the game.

Barragan scored 48 goals for the Lady Eagles this season, which coach Eliseo Guzman said is probably 80 percent of the team’s goals. She is the All-Metro co-offensive player of the year, earning the award for the second consecutive season.

“It means a lot to me to be named All-Metro offensive player of the year again because it shows the consistency in my hard work and dedication to the sport,” Barragan said. “I spend a lot of time on the field for training and games, and this award reminds me that I’m moving forward in my progress.”

Barragan scored 51 goals last year. Teams try to game plan to stop her, but Guzman said her ability to steal balls, dribbling skills and powerful leg that helps her score from long distances makes her hard to stop. Barragan credits her team for helping her stay productive even with all eyes on her, and she appreciates that they trust her to lead.

“I can’t do it alone. I get passes from my teammates that give me those opportunities to score,” Barragan said. “It can be a lot of pressure because there is expectations there for me, but more than anything I feel honored that my teammates see me as a reliable player and that they have trust in me to come through. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter who scores so long as we win.”

Co-Offensive Player of the Year
Ashley Esparza, Los Fresnos

Esparza, a junior, is a self-motivated individual. When she sets her mind on something, she does all she can to get it done.

Esparza wants to score 100 goals during her Lady Falcons career, and she took a big stride in achieving that this season. Esparza was the leading scorer for a Los Fresnos team that reached the 6A regional semifinal round, sending 42 goals to the back of the net and coming up with scores in key moments. She is the All-Metro co-offensive player of the year.

“Honestly, my heart dropped when I heard because I was super excited. I worked so hard, and I’m glad that I accomplished this,” Esparza said. “One thing that helped me a lot was communicating with my team. Me scoring all those goals goes back to the team.”

Esparza accounted for almost half of the goals scored by the Lady Falcons this season. Her favorite moment came in the area-round contest against Laredo Alexander. During the first 15 minutes of the game, Esparza was hit in the eye and it swelled shut. She still managed to score the winning goal in the 1-0 game.

The success she had this year will serve as motivation and gives Esparza new confidence as she strives to be better individually and as a team next year.

“My family has pushed me and placed me on amazing teams to practice my skills,” Esparza said. “I would like to thank (Los Fresnos coach Diego Luna) and another coach, (assistant Ivan Estrada). Thanks to my teammates for helping me accomplish everything, and hopefully we do better next year.”

Defensive Player of the Year
Grecia Quinones, Brownsville Lopez

Quinones, a goalkeeper, wanted to be at her best in her senior season.

She wanted to be better about communicating with her team and helping the Lady Lobos’ defense be tough to penetrate, and she was. On top of guiding the defense, she was quick and strong in the net. Quinones is the All-Metro defensive player of the year.

“I’m very grateful, and I was very surprised, too,” Quinones said. “This year I was very proud. Honestly, it was the best season I’ve had my whole years. I was very happy that I was able to get it my last year.”

Quinones’ play helped Lopez clinch a co-District 32-5A championship, and she was named the co-goalkeeper of the year. She credited late Lopez coach Alex Macias for making her and the team understand the importance of communicating and working together, particularly as a defensive unit.

“I didn’t communicate that well with my teammates my first three years,” Quinones said. “Coach Macias would say, ‘You see everything from the right angle, so you have to communicate with everyone and tell the defense where to go.’ I had to do my best to tell them what’s going on. It was my goal to communicate better and it worked. This year, me and my defense clicked, and that’s why we did so well this year.”

Quinones said it was bittersweet that Macias isn’t here to share this award with her, but she’s proud to be honoring his memory.

“Coach Macias is the one that told me to be a goalkeeper. He was always there for me, and we’d joke around all the time. He really helped me a lot to accomplish more,” Quinones said. “He taught us to work together. He was the glue and would help us to communicate. I’m sad he’s not able to be here, but I’m happy because we can spread good things with his name.”

Newcomer of the Year
Angela Garcia, Brownsville Veterans Memorial

Garcia’s determination and work ethic led her to have a stellar freshman season with the Lady Chargers.

Garcia scored 29 goals as a rookie, helping Brownsville Veterans reach the playoffs. She is the All-Metro newcomer of the year.

“It’s very exciting, and I feel like all my hard work paid off at the end. But I’ll continue to work harder. I have a strong start, and now I need to become better,” Garcia said.

Garcia said she was grateful for Lady Chargers coach Luis Troncoso for putting his trust in her even though he didn’t know much about her play. He’s one of several people Garcia credited for making her a team player and successful on the field.

“I thank my dad because he’s always been there for me. Since I was, like, 5 years old he’s been at all my games, goes to my outside practices, there for me all the time,” Garcia said. “My outside coach, Antonio Martinez, puts a lot of time and work into me, and supports me in everything I do. I thank my teammates because they were welcoming from the start. I felt comfortable with them, so that let me score and be the player that I am.”

Troncoso said Garcia “works to perfection” and is very driven to be the best. He’s excited to see what more she can do in her next three years.

“One of her specialties is free kicks. That’s a good way to measure the dedication she puts into practice, to be able to execute those free kicks and score goals,” Troncoso said. “Players like her are always a big boost for our program. She pushes everybody on the team to try to continue to be as competitive as we can.”

Coach of the Year
Diego Luna, Los Fresnos

It wasn’t all smooth sailing for the Los Fresnos Lady Falcons throughout the season. They had to work through a lot, but it made them stronger.

Luna steered the ship to the 6A regional semifinal round. He developed a deep bench and brought Los Fresnos its first playoff win in four years. Luna is the All-Metro coach of the year.

“Winning this award makes all the hours, the constant work Monday through Sunday, making sure everything is at 100 percent, it makes it feel so much better. It feels like I’m doing something right for my girls. It’s special, and it ends the season in a positive way,” Luna said.

“This year a lot of my players had that chip on their shoulders,” he added. “None of my players had won a playoff game. That was a motivation factor for the team to push through. Once they got that first playoff win, I could see it that they wanted more. You could tell they were hungry for more.”

Getting to the playoffs was a tough journey due to injuries and other things, but Luna kept the Lady Falcons focused and improving. A focus on building the bench during the rigorous district season helped Los Fresnos’ successful postseason run.

“There were a lot of ups and downs throughout the season. We had situations that kept us from having a set lineup every game, and I think it helped in the long run,” Luna said. “We had a very deep bench. I was able to sub, and it didn’t even look like I made a sub. And at the end of the day, that’s the goal of our team, to have 15, 16, 17 girls that can go out there and look like starters. That was a major contributor for us to reach that fourth round.”