16 December 2021

By: Paulina Vairo

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NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. — The Monroe College women’s soccer team ended their season with another trip to Nationals and ranked seventh in NJCAA Division I. In a season where their home field was destroyed, they battled COVID-19 restrictions and they constantly traveled out of state, the Monroe Mustangs went through some challenging obstacles but still managed to perform at an elite level.

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The program won the National Tournament in 2014 and 2018. Though a junior college, Monroe College produces high talented players that are hungry to play and win. The school is a for-profit college that runs on three semesters in one academic school year. This gives athletes the opportunity to get credits for their associate’s degree while playing at the most elite level. In some cases, players have taken their COVID-19 year and began to earn credits for their bachelor’s degree.

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Because of the college’s previous international program, they have maintained their connections that allow players from around the world the opportunity to come in to the United States to play sports, learn English and get credit for it. The international program is a great opportunity for these players to afterwards move on to play either Division I or II soccer.

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Current head coach for the women’s team, Jay Myers, was the director of the program before taking over as head coach. Myers helped with the recruiting side for years. With the 2020 season canceled, it was difficult for Myers to recruit new players. However, because of his experience with coaching club soccer, he was able to recruit girls from his club soccer teams along with the comeback players from 2019 and cultivated a talented squad with great chemistry.

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The Mustangs have nine international players on their roster. According to Myers, the international players play a huge role on the team, providing an opportunity for the domestic players to learn from youth level national team players.

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“The international players that we, like the Brazilian girls, are U-17 and U-20 Brazilian National Team players,” Myers said. “Same thing with the Australian and Jamaican and the Norwegian players, they are all National Team players. So the domestic kids can learn to be better players and they already have the academic side of it, so they are strong students and now they are strong athletes going into Division I.”

The international players highlighted the teams’ stat sheet for the season. Brazilian Luana Grabias recorded the most goals and assists on the team with 11 goals and four assists. The Jamaican Sydoney Clarke recorded eight goals and two assists, landing her on the NJCAA first team All American for the second time. Goalkeeper from Brazil, Stefane Rosa, also landed on the NJCAA first team All American for the second time for recording 49 saves and seven shutouts this season.

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Coach Myers also gives a lot of credit to captains Isabella Boccia Gomes de Moraes and Regina Fiabema for their team’s success this season. Gomes, a transfer student from Essex, New Jersey, arrived from Brazil and has transitioned into a leader for the team. Fiabema, from Norway, arrived at Monroe as a striker, however Myers transitioned her into a center back and she immediately became an essential part of the defense for the team.

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The Mustangs had difficult obstacles to face throughout the season. In late August, the tristate area was hit hard by tropical storm Ida that caused severe flooding and damage in the area, including the home field and training grounds for the Mustangs. Because of the lack of NJCAA Division I schools in the northeast, the team played most games out of state.

The team also faced COVID-19 restrictions and because of that they were not able to have a spring season like most out of state schools. They had only three months to prepare for the season.

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“Other teams in the country were training on their home facilities and other teams out of Texas and Florida who don’t have mandatory vaccinations, who don’t have mandatory COVID testing, who were not affected by COVID-19 in general, had a massive advantage over a team out of New York,” Myers said. “And then we got hit by the hurricane, where those teams are comfortable in their home field training and traveling around locally. We had to travel long distances and train on facilities that were not traditional historically for us, so it was challenging.”

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The Mustangs made another appearance to the National Tournament where they faced the No. 1 school in the country, Tyler Junior College. The school from Tyler, Texas, have been on a 50-game winning streak dating back to the 2019 season. Because of the looser COVID-19 restriction in Texas, Tyler Junior played during the 2020 season and maintained a perfect 24-0 record to win the National Championship. After a hard fought out game, the Mustangs came up short and lost 1-0.

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With all these restrictions and challenges, the Mustangs had a strong season and look to become even stronger in the future. Coaching female club soccer for over 15 years, Myers’ goal for every player he coaches is to develop strong mental and independent female soccer players. He has created a family of strong players and because many players will return next season to play their extra COVID-19 year, it will help move the program forward into more success for both the domestic and international players.

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(Article can also be seen on https://bvmsports.com/2021/12/16/powerhouse-monroe-mustangs-complete-another-successful-season/)