Mustangs too strong for Victoria West

During this past week, the McAllen Memorial girls soccer team practiced on a grass field to prepare for Friday’s Area Round playoff soccer match against Victoria West. They weren’t sure about how tall the grass would be or if it would be patch field.

It didn’t matter if it was a goat ranch.

After the game was over, it was clear that if Memorial played in a pool filled with sharks or on the side of a steep icy mountain, the outcome would still be the same.

The Mustang machine kept steamrolling, scoring seven times in the second half alone en route to a 9-0 win over Victoria West.

The win sends Mcallen Memorial to the regional quarterfinals and will play Flour Bluff at 6:30 p.m.Tuesday at Flour Bluff.

Freshman Zyanya Nguma scored three goals, Sofia Alaniz-Choy scored twice – once up close with a header and once from 40 or more yards and six different players put the ball in the back of the net – including goalie Karen Oviedo, who scored on a penalty kick.

It was an offensive assault from every angle and it actually looked as if Victoria West had a good game plan – pack everything in defensively in the middle, try to score on a quick transition counter and keep it close. It worked – for the first half Kennedy Kaiser and Victoria Estrada each scored in the first half and Memorial led 2-0 at the midway point.

Then came the second half and the loud scream of “goooooooooaaaaalllll” from the pressbox over the PA system became a broken record.

During about a 25-minute span during the second half, it seemed like it was “Who's Next?” to score a goal as the Mustangs kept the scoreboard spinning like a roulette table with six goals during that span.

Meanwhile, Oviedo was a wall in the goal and the defense closed in tightly whenever West made a counter attempt. Last year, Memorial advanced to the regional semifinals. With a win Tuesday, the Mustangs will be back in those semis and looking for more.