By ROY HESS | THE BROWNSVILLE HERALD
It didn’t take long for Yadira Dominguez to embrace soccer as her sport.
She started playing soccer in middle school and decided by the time she entered Pace what role she hoped it would play in her life.
“I still remember Yadira’s freshman year and her words on the second day of practice,” Lady Vikings coach Jesus O. Villarreal said. “She said, ‘Coach, I like soccer more than any other sport and I’m going to be on varsity soon and I’m going to play in college, too. I’m going to do it.’
“I didn’t even really know her name at that point, but I told her, ‘You can do anything you want,’” Villarreal remembers saying. “If you can dream it, you can accomplish it.
“For me as a coach, that was a very special moment. I’m going to remember her words for many years to come.”
After completing her four-year Pace varsity career, Dominguez’s goal to play soccer at the next level became a reality on Wednesday as she signed a college scholarship agreement to play her sport next school year at the University of Houston-Victoria, an NAIA school.
There were teammates, classmates, coaches, teachers, Brownsville ISD administrators and family members on hand at the Pace Auditorium to share in the happy moment.
“It means a lot to me (to sign) and I’m really proud of myself,” said Dominguez, who plans to pursue an education degree in college and someday teach in elementary school. “I set my mind to one day sign (for soccer) and I’m finally doing what I really wanted to do.
“It’s pretty good (that I’m signing with UH-Victoria),” she added. “I like that I’m not too far away from home. I can always come home for the weekend and be with my family for any celebrations or holidays, so that will be fun.”
Dominguez played a variety of positions on the soccer field. Her senior season, when the Lady Vikings won District 32-5A with a 14-0 record and advanced three rounds in the playoffs before finishing with a 28-2-1 overall mark, she played primarily as a central defender and a defensive center midfielder.
“Yadira is one of those players who can play just about anywhere and she does a good job,” Villarreal said. “If I’m not mistaken, I think she played goalkeeper one time, so she’s played all over — defense, midfield and forward. She’s being recruited for defense in college, so let’s see where she plays.”
The Lady Vikings coach said Dominguez has improved as a soccer player and as a person throughout her years at Pace.
“At the beginning when she was a freshman, she went through some struggles,” he said. “Little by little and step by step, she became the person she is right now. I can speak for a lot of people (who have been involved with her life) and there’s just a sense of pride for her.
“There’s a feeling that we (at Pace) helped make her (into the student-athlete she is),” he added. “I say ‘We’ because it’s been the volleyball coaches, the basketball coaches, the cross country/track coaches and everyone. We (coaches) helped form what Yadira is now.”
With a bright future in college to look forward to, Dominguez said she will always cherish her time at Pace.
“I have a lot of good memories of Pace, especially of the soccer team,” she said. “It’s been an amazing experience with the girls on the team — all the bus rides and singing on the bus and everything. We were one team, one family and sisters. Together, we accomplished a lot to get where we got.”
Roy Hess covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @HessRgehess