50 - North Shore News - Wednesday, September 18, 2002

Sofia,
south
of the
border
Jan-Christian Sorensen
jsorensen@nsnews.com

THAT'S the thing
about Sofia Hidalgo she can't help but make
an impression.
That was certainly the case
with
Mexican
national
women's team head coach
Leonardo Cuellar, who first
spotted the former Sutherland
Sabre and 2001 BCCAA
rookie of the year as she led a
Guadalajara women's club
team called Atlas to the
national title two years back.
Hidalgo had been visiting
her grandparents in Mexico
after graduation when she
helped the team claim the
crown. She had wanted to try
out for the national team
before returning to the North
Shore - and the Capilano
College Blues women's team
- but couldn't make the right
connections.
Nearly two years later,
Hidalgo got a second chance
when the recent FIFA U-19
women's tournament rolled
into town - with Cuellar's
Mexican team in tow.
She made the most of it.
"I met him at his hotel and
I introduced myself and he said
he remembered me from
Mexico and said 'I'd love you
to play for my team.' He said
he would have loved me to

NEWS photo Cindy Goodman

CAP College soccer team forward Sofia Hidalgo has
had to watch her team from the sidelines this season
as she nurses a hamstring injury. She's expected back
as soon as this weekend, which is also good news for
Mexican national women's team coach Leonardo
Cuellar. He's looking to play the former Sutherland
student in World Cup qualifier games this fall.
play for his FIFA U-19 team
except I was too old. I couldn't
believe he remembered me ."
Then Cuellar dropped the
bomb. He told the former
North Shore Select he was so
impressed with her play in
Guadalajara tl1at he wanted her
to join the team for a series of
World
Cup
preliminary
qualifier games this October
and November. The games
serve as a springboard for the
Women's World Cup to be
held in China next summer.
"He was giving me all these
dates to come down to Mexico

and I was going 'Oh my God,
I can't believe this," said an
elated Hidalgo.
She
also
had
an
opportunity to take part in a
training camp down South
from Sept. 9-29, but couldn't
make the jump because of
commitments at school.
"I'm in iliis (graphic
design) program at school and
I can't miss a day," says
Hidalgo. "For two years I've
been trying to get into tlus
program and I'm finally in and
See Sofia page 55

Sofia stays focused
i-ompage 50

can't take my chances."
Add to that the fact that
she's currently sidelined from
laying due to a left hamstring
· jury she suffered at last
eason's BCCAA provincial
championships.
She
reggravated tl1e injury this
pring and had to call an
abrupt end to a possible
tarting role
with
the
ancouver
Breakers
pro
vomen's team as a result.
"It's so frustrating," says
Hidalgo of tl1e injury. "I
stopped playing for about
three montl1s and three weeks
ago I tried to get back to
playing and I played a half
game and I was fine and then
four days later I played again
and I coµld only go for five
minutes. It was the worst
eling in the world. It wasn't
ry painful but I could feel it
d I didn't want to risk it
cause there's so much at
~ ake right now.
She's currently going to
physiotherapy and massage
therapy to get herself back in
gear and ready for a possible

trip south later this fall.
Doug Abercrombie, who
coaches Hidalgo at Cap
College, said that he hopes to
have the second-year player
back as soon as this weekend,
when the Blues travel to
Ca.riboo and Okanagan.
"It'll make a big difference
to have her back just because
everybody's confidence will go
up. She was a big pa.rt of the
team last year. It was nice
because the opposing teams
couldn't just key in on Sa.rah
(Regan) because Sofia was also
a threat and they couldn't just
key in on Sofia because Sa.ral1
was a threat. There were two
people they had to watch.
"She holds the ball up so
well and she's got a real flair
for the game tl1at other players
don't. She's got great
imagination - she'll back-heel
a ball where others wouldn't
even consider doing it and she
gets the ball to people and sets
other people up. It's just a
different style of soccer,
different tl1an everybody else
here plays. She's also very
dedicated, she works very ha.rd
and she's very coachable. You

ask her to do something and
she'll go out there and do it."
For now, Hidalgo's got her
head in the clouds, but her feet
a.re planted firmly on the
ground. She's got the maturity
to recognize that while
achieving a pro career in soccer
may be a dream come true, she
still needs a solid backup plan
in place.
"I was so happy and
amazed when I talked to
(Cuellar) I actually thought
about delaying school a year
and concentrating on soccer,
but because of my injury I
thought it was possible to get
injured again and miss another
year of school.
"I'd
love
to
play
professionally - it would be
like winning the lottery, but
that's the reason I'm in school.
I know tl1at (soccer) is not my
future. Like my dad has always
said, 'Soccer is awesome and
it's something that fu1fills you
inside but you have to look at
it realistically.' I'm not going
to get paid for playing soccer.
It would be my dream come
true, though ."

- files from Milt Williams