SRSU Womens’ Soccer: Band of Sisters Goes Back to Grade School
By Marley Rokas, Skyline Reporter
Alpine – In a new wrinkle on competitive, high-stakes college sports recruiting, Sul Ross State University womens’ soccer coach John Dominguez has found what seems to be a winning formula.
Rather than assembling a group of talented strangers, Dominguez has been recruiting women who have been playing together since they were kids.
“While families may fight, you learn how to forgive and move on,” he told the Skyline.
“Our culture is set around each family member (player) holding a chain and closing a gate together. It’s easier to close a gate with one long sturdy chain than it is with individually weaker chains,” said Dominguez.
Seventy percent of the women’s team comes from the El Paso area and have been playing together for years. The recruits fit the style of fast-play soccer that is well-known around El Paso.
Senior Nuvia Guillen, the captain, said it is “amazing” to take the field with so many familiar faces. “It’s the best feeling knowing that girls you played with and against and that you have grown up with are still playing with each other in college. Our conference opponents don’t have the family atmosphere that we do,” she said.
Dominguez did not have the opportunity to actively recruit prior to the start of the regular season last year. He was hired two days after the first official practice, but with ingenuity and adaptability, was able to assemble a roster of 11 players. Through many difficulties, such as injuries that reduced their roster to nine at some points, the Sul Ross Women’s Soccer team completed the season respectably and emerged determined to improve.
Most collegiate athletic teams consist of recruited athletes who don’t know each other, which requires them to develop a bond quickly. While many players on these teams never get a chance to meet before they arrive on campus, this soccer team has been able to grow up with each other, some since they were eight years old.
With a full roster of 30 women, many who know each other well, this year’s team seems primed for success. “It’s something special. Since most of us are from El Paso, it’s like bringing your sisters with you,” said senior Aylin Pereyra.