Myers Park’s Amaya Falzarano leads Mustangs back to NCHSAA playoffs again
Veteran Myers Park girls soccer coach Bucky McCarley has seen lots of successful players over his 23 years as the Mustangs’ coach.
He said that current junior standout Amaya Falzarano is one of the best he’s coached, and her versatility and high-scoring ways are one of the big reasons her team enters the N.C. 4A playoffs as a No. 8 seed. Myers Park, a SoMECK co-regular-season conference champion, will host No. 25 Watauga in Monday’s first round.
First touch is set for 6:30 p.m.
“She doesn’t wait for big games,” McCarley said of Falzarano. “She comes through all the time. Amaya trains hard and plays hard. What’s truly great about her is that she’s a forward in a finesse position, but she’s really competitive and she’s really intense and really physical, which presents a challenge for the other team.”
In three seasons with the Mustangs, Falzarano has helped her teams extend the school’s consecutive playoff streak to 24 seasons by tallying 64 goals and 19 assists.
She has 27 goals and seven assists for this year’s 12-7-2 team. She had 22 goals and nine assists for last spring’s 11-8-1 fourth-round playoff team and 15 goals and three assists for the 2023 first-round playoff team.
“Most forwards are clever and have a bag of tricks,” McCarley said. “And she can do that, but she also is going to run past you, give you a shoulder challenge and she’s just a really well-rounded player.”
Falzarano’s diverse talents were on display in Tuesday’s 2-1 win at South Mecklenburg that forged the SoMeck 4A three-way championship tie between Ardrey Kell, Myers Park and South Mecklenburg.
“She played all three positions up top ... which requires a great deal of versatility,” McCarley said of Falzarano, who scored what proved to be the decisive goal two minutes into the second of the 2-1 victory.
The win gave Myers Park its 18th conference title in school history — and first since 2021.
“It was really important for us because we haven’t won one in awhile,” Falzarano said. “We really wanted it, and we knew it would be tough coming over here.”
Now in the playoffs, the Mustangs will look to improve on their already historic postseason resume. Myers Park is one of 20 schools in the 38-year NCHSAA history of girls soccer to win 50 or more playoff games — and one of just three in Mecklenburg County.
The Mustangs are 59-33 in 34 previous appearances with Charlotte Catholic (80-29 record in 32 appearances) and Providence (60-27 record in 29 appearances) being the other Mecklenburg County Schools with 50 or more wins. Raleigh Broughton (83-21 in 30 appearances) and Greensboro Grimsley (83-30 in 36 appearances) are the all-time winners in state history.
Falzarano thinks last week’s victory should help her team as it enters the playoffs.
“This is a really big momentum starter,” Falzarano said. “We’re just going to keep playing like we play and pursue a state championship.”
For McCarley — who has guided Myers Park to a state title in 2021, a state runner-up finish in 2018 and 11 conference titles — wins like Tuesday’s, when the Mustangs faced the prospect of finishing third in the league with a loss, are what makes his profession so worthwhile.
“It’s quite literally why high school sports means so much,” McCarley said. “Everything was on the line tonight and every advantage would have to favor South Meck. But we were mentally and physically tough, and I’m just really proud of my players. And it’s hard to be mentally tough after some of the scars we’ve suffered this season. So for us to play like that is really special and says a lot about this group.”
