2018 Women's Soccer Preview

On Sept. 15, 2018 Cal Maritime will field their first-ever women's soccer team when they play the program's first official game at 11 a.m. against The Academy of Art University at Bodnar Field.

When Cal Maritime student Noelle Gomez was a freshman she would often stop by Mayo Hall, the tiny, old rackety gym on campus that used to be the host for men and women's basketball games until 2015.

Gomez and a few of her friends would go inside and play a game of pickup soccer. There would only be a few women playing and there were no uniforms, officials, scoreboard or anything official, but hey, it was soccer and to them it was a lot of fun.

That being said, Gomez and her friends often thought like actor Tom Hardy's Eames' character in the film "Inception" — "You mustn't be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling."

In two weeks, the dream Gomez and a few other seniors had four years ago, will become a reality.

"I never gave up on the idea of one day playing on an official soccer team here," Gomez said. "We would go around campus asking people to play in the pickup games. I used to talk to everybody. It didn't matter if they hadn't played soccer before. So now all these years later I'm extremely excited to play our first game. It will be the first time I've played at a competitive level like this since I played club in high school."

Gomez said over the past few years the pickup games grew in size and they would often take place indoors on Mare Island.

"I think Marv (Christopher, the university's athletic director) saw the commitment and desire and said to himself, 'Hey, we need to start a program here,'" Gomez said.

Last September Christopher took some of the first steps to get the program up and running when he hired Emily Scheese to be the team's head coach. Scheese had plenty of success at UC Santa Cruz as she was the Division III Association of Independents' Coach of the Year in 2013, 2014 and 2016. The Banana Slugs won the Great South Athletic Conference in 2015 and advanced to the NCAA Division III National Championship Tournament in 2015 and 2016.

Still, Scheese, who is also the coach with Global Premier Soccer's Almaden FC in San Jose, knew there would be some challenges in putting together a squad for the first time.

"When I was first hired the main thing I did was learn about the university," Scheese said. "Learning about the schedule and the academics and the different requirements. What majors we had and who we could recruit. The hard part was finding athletes that had the need for one of our six majors. People that go to this school are usually already invested somewhat in the industry. They don't stick around for a year and a half wondering what they will major in."

Scheese said she had a lot of help from some then-juniors like Gomez, who went around the campus trying to recruit players.

"Luckily I had a core of girls who had always been trying to form a club or intercollegiate team on campus and they helped find some players," Scheese said. "Noelle has been great at bridging the gap between experienced players on the team and players that have never played the game at all."

Gomez said that she doesn't mind going the extra mile to help players that previously had no soccer experience.

"It's been rough at times, and you have to be patient," Gomez said. "When you're starting a program like we are you have to be patient or why are you here? But if I can work with a player for an extra hour to help them learn how to hold a defensive position or just how to shoot, then it's worth it."

In March the Keelhaulers had their first-ever scrimmage against UC Merced. Cal Maritime only had 11 players for the scrimmage, so there was no subbing as the entire team played the full 90 minutes. Cal Maritime lost 10-0.

"We didn't do so well against UC Merced, but it didn't matter to us," Gomez said. "We had a lot of heart and drive in that game. Our goalkeeper Vanessa (Peña) gave up 10 goals, but she also made 43 saves! We told the UC Merced team that we wanted them to play their best against us. We wanted the women on our team to know what a competitive soccer game was going to be like. But even though we lost it was a lot of fun."

Peña, along with center/midfielder Monick Powers, have been named captains on the team and have been crucial along with Gomez in recruiting players. Scheese said those three, along with Jackie Garcia (midfielder) and Sacramento City College transfer Jessica Camacho (center/midfielder) will have big roles this season.

"Noelle is a very committed player. She is speedy and tenacious," Scheese said. "Jackie (Garcia) is very good with the ball at her feet and very creative. She has great instincts."

Scheese also singled out an inexperienced player, Lea Schneiderman, who has gone above and beyond in improving her game.

"She's worked so hard over the summer," Scheese said. "She's super fit and winning every fitness competition we have in practice. She's worked her way to becoming a starter with us as she'll play either center/mid or out wide. She's one of those, 'Put me anywhere coach and I'll do my best' type of players."

The rest of the roster consists of Natalie Calderon, Dru Daley, Briana Garden, Helen Gordon, Brittany Holloway, Lorraine Horta, Katherine Kronheim, Rebecca Masliah, Sarah Rodriguez, Emily Silva, Hannah Soule and Lovette Valdivia.

Scheese said the past year has seemed to be a long time in the making. She also admitted she'll be thrilled when she looks out at her team on Bodnar Field on Sept. 15.

"It will be great to especially see the seniors, the ones that wanted this for years," Scheese said. "It will great to see their smiles, knowing they played when we didn't even have 11 players and now we have 18. This will also be good for the community and the college."

Meanwhile, Gomez said on Friday that every day she still walks by Mayo Hall and often reflects.

"Yesterday I was talking with Vanessa (Peña) and as we're walking by Mayo Hall I told her, 'Hey, we've come a long way since those pickup games.

Gomez then added that the team receives uniforms and gear on Friday. The senior then takes a little bit of a pause on the phone before speaking again possibly to digest what she has just said.

"Wow, to finally have gear to wear, that's going to be great," Gomez finally said. "It's going to give me a sense of pride and accomplishment with this school. It's going to blow my mind."

Content provided by Thomas Gase of the Vallejo Times Herald