Celebrating more than medals: Southwestern soccer team composed of all women of color
Four years ago, when she was 18 years old, Natalie Dubon traveled alone from her native Honduras to San Diego in search of a better life.
She had no friends or job and a father whom she would meet for the first time. Despite so much uncertainty, there was one thing she had her mind set on: going to college and playing soccer.
The opportunity came in 2019, when she joined the Southwestern College women's soccer team.
"I was very shy because I didn't want the other girls to notice my accent," Dubon, now 22, said. But to her surprise, "they were so nice. We have a lot of different cultures and people that I could relate to."
Another surprise came earlier this month. Jaguars head soccer coach Carolina Soto surprised the 21-member team with medals and trophies to celebrate the team's newly earned title as champions of the 2022 Pacific Coast Athletic Conference.
Their season ended last month with an overall record of 16-4-3 and a conference record of 12-0-2, placing them in first place ahead of MiraCosta and San Diego Mesa colleges. Some of the players had star moments.
Ilucion Duron was named PCAC offensive player of the year and the California Community College Athletic Association's regional offensive player. A forward, she tallied a total of 18 goals and seven assists.
"It was such a fun and thrilling experience," said Alexa Marin, 19, who joined the team last year and concluded her final season last month.
Perhaps more memorable to them was the sense of pride they built in South County as a team composed of all women of color with binational and first-generation student-athletes, and the rapport they established with younger generations.
"We're all from the South Bay area and we brought in the community to see who we are. We're Latinas, Mexican Americans, Black, from Honduras, bilingual and first-generation," said Soto.
Families and many parents whose younger children play in Chula Vista soccer clubs would often show their support during games held at Southwestern's DeVore stadium and travel with them to games held outside of San Diego County
One of Marin's fondest moments was seeing players from the local youth group, The Rebels, escort players onto the field for the Jaguar's final home game in early November. Despite pouring rain that evening, "they still showed up," she said.
"It just felt like I could impact someone at a young age and inspire them to hopefully keep going and get to the next level," said Marin, who has lived in Tijuana since she was in middle school.
The Jaguars have also had their share of recognition from soccer professionals in Mexico. In November, Miguel Herrera, a former Mexican professional soccer player and manager, gave his best wishes to the team via a social media video as they headed to playoffs after their PCAC Conference win.
Soto credits the team's success to its willingness to persevere when they felt uninspired or during challenging times in their personal lives.
"This is a team that came together and never gave up, even when they felt burnt out," Soto said. "They found passion not only in sports but in wanting to finish junior college and finish getting their degrees. We really empowered girls through sport."
Due to unforeseen personal hardships during the pandemic, Dubon left school for two years and moved to Reno with other family members.
"But I just couldn't get my teammates and school out of my mind. I missed my friends, my professors and my coaches because they helped me out with a lot of things. I had to come home," she said.
Jaguars' team captain Raelyn Arredondo, 20, said the team played like a family. They coached each other through difficult times, especially when Dubon had to make life-changing decisions, she said.
Next semester, Dubon plans to transfer to National University and earn a degree in accounting. Marin is eyeing San Diego State University to study business and Arredondo will attend Arizona State University's online program for speech language and hearing sciences.