Photo Credit: Student Athletic Center
“I wanted to be a part of a team, and not just in individual sport,” Mia Almonte, a member of the women’s soccer team, says. It is this team sport mentality that has helped Almonte excel through her three years tenure on the team.
Athletic all her life, Almonte says her devotion to soccer came, “later in life,” compared to her teammates. She started at age 12 in her hometown of Freeport with the PAL soccer program. Once in high school, Almonte found herself running track and field, but found the sport to be too isolating and longed for a more team focused sport.
At SUNY Old Westbury, she once again turned to soccer and the team connection she sought. Almonte, who is in her third year of pursuing a Psychology degree joined the OW Panthers NCAA Division 3 Women’s Soccer Team her freshman year. “I really enjoy being with my teammates,” says Almonte who this last season served as Team Captain. Her role as captain is to make sure her teammates, “heads are straight before a game,” she says, “but also to remind them to have fun too.”
Almonte’s role as morale booster was pushed to the test during COVID, but she said the team prevailed. She said the team didn’t play during the 2020 season but the members, along with the coach, met every week via Zoom. With the encouragement of Coach Betty Bohringer the team played online Zoom games and interacted with each other in order to keep the team chemistry alive. Almonte feels the practice worked, “We were a close team, we all got along and we were able to put that chemistry onto the field,” for the 2021 season.
The 2021 season, which started in August and just completed, was also “less traditional” than Almonte’s freshman year. Because the Student Athletics Center is currently being used as a COVID Vaccination site, the team had to use another field and facility at Farmingdale State College. Training, playing and practicing every day, the commute from Old Westbury to Farmingdale added to the player’s already hectic schedule, but according to Almonte, they “made it work.” Always the optimist, she said, “At least we had a place to play.”
When asked about the team’s coach, Almonte beamed saying, “I love her. She’s very sweet and very lenient… She is very motivational for the team.” Coach Bohringer had similar accolades for Almonte saying she leads by example. “Mia is an intense player that plays every moment as if it is her last,” Coach Bohringer said. “There aren’t enough words that I could express my appreciation for everything she has accomplished on and off the field.”
When asked of her greatest achievements as an OW Panther, Almonte noted making it to the Skyline Conference first round of playoffs in 2019. In 2019, she also had nine personal goals but it is her 2021 season she seems to be most proud of. Almonte assisted in many goals throughout the season, including four in one game. Solidifying her team player spirit, she said, “I like helping assist as much as getting goals.”
