'It was a freakin' banger': West Palm's Mayra Pelayo scores in Mexico's historic win over USA

Former Palm Beach County soccer star Mayra Pelayo is making international waves.

Pelayo's top-shelf strike from 20 yards out on Monday night was perhaps the biggest goal of her career, cementing just the second-ever victory for Mexico's women's national team over the United States.

The local product plays as a forward for Liga MX Femenil side Tijuana, representing Mexico internationally after debuting on the national stage with the United States U15 and U17 teams as a youth.

With Mexico nursing a one-goal lead Monday night, Karen Luna launched a superb cross-field pass. Pelayo controlled the ball, dribbled toward the box, created space, found the open lane and sent a rocket off her right foot.

The goalkeeper dove, but it was a formality – Pelayo gave her no chance of saving the shot.

So while it was a shocking result for the group’s heavily-favored American squad in the Concacaf W Gold Cup, South Florida sports fans likely weren't too surprised.

Pelayo’s stardom began with American-Heritage Delray

Pelayo's time playing under head coach Steve Burgess at Heritage-Delray proved fruitful in her early high-school years.

Pelayo scored 16 goals and notched 34 assists in her sophomore season with the Stallions. In previous seasons, American Heritage-Delray won both the 2011 and 2012 Class 2A state titles when she was in her eight-grade and freshman seasons.

"One of the best players to not only come out of American Heritage but also Florida," Burgess said. "Her success after Heritage, firstly, at the University of Florida, and now with her national team comes as no surprise to me."

Pelayo found continued success at The Benjamin School

After her time at Heritage, Pelayo attended Benjamin, where she was named The Post's 2015 Small Schools Player of the Year.

She scored 18 goals and tallied eight assists in 2015, leading the Buccaneers to a regional quarterfinals appearance after Benjamin’s 2014 run to the regional semifinals.

“It's just a love,” said former Benjamin soccer coach Ed Chaplin, who coached Pelayo. “To her, it's never been work. In high school, she was the best player by far. I just think it's amazing that it's not work for her.”

Chaplin watched the whole game and said that while the one goal was spectacular at that level, she just missed out on a second one. Another observation that surprised him was that the former Bucs midfielder was not the small-statured player he remembered.

“In high school, she was small,” Chaplin said. “She was a small-statured person. It looks now that she’s super solid. It’s a different animal when you’re young, and now, she’s a full-grown adult. Her body supports everything that she does. She looked really fluid.”

Benjamin athletic director Ryan Smith has always been a big proponent of building a culture of success at Benjamin, and Monday’s performance from Pelayo is the latest example of a former Buccaneer finding success at the professional level.

“We knew when Mayra was here, she was an outstanding player,” Smith said. “It doesn’t surprise me that she’s having success at the national level. She had a skill-set that was exceptional. Her attitude and work ethic were exceptional. She was given a gift and took advantage of it.”

Before international success, Pelayo ran the Florida Gators midfield

After her high-school career, Pelayo was a force to be reckoned with in SEC women’s soccer.

Running the Gators midfield from 2015 to 2018, Pelayo was named to the Southeastern Conference All-Freshman team, and then overcame an injury to lead Florida with six assists during her senior year.

For her collegiate career, Pelayo scored 10 goals, tallied 20 assists, and registered 53 shots on goal.

Former University of Florida coach Becky Burleigh, who coached Pelayo in her time with the Gators, watched part of the game between the United State and Mexico national squads on Monday.

When she woke up the next morning, Twitter held quite the surprise.

“I was scrolling through social media and I saw this still picture of this person celebrating,” Burleigh said. “And I was kind of scrolling and I went back and said, ‘Wait a minute, that’s Mayra,’ and right below it was a story on the game.”

Burleigh spoke with pride on Pelayo’s step-over to create the goal, a trademark of the star’s game since she was a high-school star.

Ultimately, she loved seeing all the effort pay dividends.

“She’s worked hard to get in that national team pool, and I was excited to see all of her hard work pay off,” Burleigh said.

“The best thing about Mayra is that she’s so creative and willing to take risks. I think she’s done that her whole career. To see that goal last night was so fun to watch. It was a freakin’ banger.”

Alex Peterman is a sports reporter for The Palm Beach Post. He can be reached at apeterman@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Mayra Pelayo shines in historic Mexico women's soccer win over USA