McHi freshman Millin earns The Monitor’s Player of the Year
BY HENRY MILLER
STAFF WRITER
McALLEN — Big-time scorers can be found in every sport.
There are also big-moment players, those who rise higher as the stage gets grander.
Julianna Millin was both for the McAllen High girls soccer team this year.
Millin, a freshman, rewrote the McHi freshman record book and scored against the toughest competition, finishing her season by scoring in every playoff game this year, including collecting a hat trick in the area round against Corpus Christi Veterans.
Her high school soccer resume after one season would be impressive for even a multi-year veteran.
Because of her outstanding year, Millin has been named The Monitor’s All-Area Girls Soccer Player of the Year.
In a season where Millin scored 42 goals, doubling the McHi freshman record of 21, one specific goal stands out in her mind, the go-ahead goal against city rival McAllen Memorial as the teams battled to the district title all the way to the final games of the regular season.
“I was in a situation when I got the ball where nobody expected me to take a shot, and I saw that little tiny seam of space to take a shot and actually didn’t know if it was going to go in,” Millin said. “But I saw it as it bypassed two or three defenders, then I knew it was going to go in because the keeper hadn’t made a move.
“A big part of that had to be muscle memory. I didn’t register there were so many people in front of me. It maybe was kind of brash of me to take the shot at that moment, but it ended up working out for us.”
McHi went on to win the game, 4-2 and ended up winning its seventh straight district title.
While Millin proved to be a big scorer, she also proved to be a go-to player who made her goals count. She scored six goals and dished three assists against the district’s other playoff-bound teams, and found the back of the net for late game-tying scores against Los Fresnos, Alamo Heights, Rowe (twice) and Memorial.
She not only credits her coaching staff for helping making it a smooth transition for her as a freshman to the varsity squad but is quick to talk about how her teammates were very welcoming, especially the previous season’s leading scorer, Mallory Henderson, whose numbers were down on the scoring front, mainly due to the fact you could find her playing every position head coach Patrick Arney asked her to play. The lightning fast Henderson was part of a three-headed scoring monster still for the Bulldogs, and her speed and skills became even more valuable as teams adjusted their defensive plans and started double- and triple-teaming Millin.
“That first happened against Sharyland,” Millin said. “We hadn’t played them before, so I wasn’t expecting them to double team me and suddenly I was, like, ‘I’m gonna have to deal with this and get Bri (Briana Claudio) and Mallory involved as much as I can.
“The valuable thing about having so many great players on our team is that if they would cover Bri, Mallory or I would be open, if they covered me, Mallory or Bri would be open. It was difficult in the beginning, but once we got the chemistry down, we made the adjustment.”
A perfect example came on a beautiful score late against McAllen Rowe. With the game tied at 2 and less than 5 minutes remaining, Savannah Ruiz sent a laser sharp and accurate through ball to Millin, who saw Claudio making a run outside of the center backs and slipped her the ball for the go-ahead score.
Millin scored in 23 of the 26 games she appeared in, including 13 in a row at one point. She scored 27 goals in district, despite sitting out a half in seven different matches, and scored in 13 of 14 district games.
“This season was big for my personal growth and how I see the game,” she rising sophomore said. “Every season is a new step in my journey. What’s next is to do what it takes to make sure my season next year goes as well as this year, as well as having a very good club season.
“I set high expectations for myself, and I think the path I’m on is exactly where I need to be. Honestly, this was never really a me thing and all I wanted to do was help my team to get as good as we could possibly be. I just ended up having a pretty good season along the way.”
