Old Westbury soccer captain perseveres

Through trial and tribulation, Mia Almonte, captain of the SUNY Old Westbury women’s soccer team, battled tirelessly to achieve her dreams on the field. 

Almonte has always felt as though soccer ran through her blood, having begun her athletic career at age 12 when she enrolled in the PAL soccer program in her hometown of Freeport.

“I just remember it being fun playing in PAL,” Almonte said. “I always enjoyed going to practice and I always hated losing, and that still stands today. I think that just has to do with my competitive nature.”

Once in high school, Almonte competed in track and field, but she felt the activity to be too confining and yearned for a more team-oriented sport. That was when she joined the Freeport High girls’ soccer team, where she felt she had discovered her genuine calling, surrounded by her teammates on the field. 

“I decided to go with soccer because it’s more of a team-related sport, whereas track and field is more of an individual sport,” said Almonte. “You have to excel with your team in order to make it somewhere, you can’t just do it all on your own. There’s no “I” in team with soccer.”

She joined the school’s traveling team to face off against other teams from opposing Nassau County high schools. Almonte felt that joining the travel team offered her a range of opportunities to hone her soccer skills while also being more challenging.

One of her most memorable triumphs during her high school soccer career was against Freeport High’s rival, Uniondale. Almonte recalled scoring the game-winning corner shot with only twelve seconds remaining in the game. 

With a successful four years of high school soccer under her belt, she graduated from Freeport and sought out her future education. Almonte opted to remain close to home when she enrolled at SUNY Old Westbury as a psychology major after touring the school at an open house and falling in love with the campus.

“I fell in love with the school as soon as I walked in, the campus is just beautiful,” Almonte said. “I was able to speak with the coaches the first day and they told me that they had almost made playoffs the season before so they were looking to form a good team for the upcoming season, which would be the season that I would be part of. So, I just wanted to give it a shot.”

Almonte quickly realized that playing college soccer was nothing like playing in high school after becoming an Old Westbury Panther and joining the NCAA Division 3 women’s soccer team her first semester.

“It was so much more practice,” Almonte said. “We had a preseason where we did practice in the morning and practice in the afternoon. I think it was like an 8 to 10 practice in the morning and then like 3 to 6 in the afternoon.”

Almonte swiftly progressed through the ranks during her inaugural season due to her hard work and persistence, ending the season with nine goals and two assists. The Old Westbury Panthers earned a spot in the playoffs that season. 

The Covid-19 outbreak disrupted her 2020 sports and academic seasons forcing everyone at Old Westbury to return home. Almonte assumed that this was a temporary incident and that her team would be back practicing on their beloved home field within a few weeks.

After a few months, she understood she wouldn’t be able to step foot on the Old Westbury campus for a long time.

Despite being unable to continue playing soccer with her team, Almonte did not allow the pandemic to impede her from staying active and in shape. She enrolled in a 24-hour gym to be fit and ready to return to school at any time. She also practiced soccer solely on her own, frequenting local parks in the area whenever she could.

“I came in with a great first season in 2019 where we made playoffs and it was actually the first time I’ve ever made playoffs,” Almonte said. “So, to come into my second season of college soccer like that, it was definitely discouraging. It was like we didn’t know when the next time would be when we would actually get together and play again.”

Things took a turn for the worse when one of her teammates who played center back died in a car accident that summer.

Despite the tragedy, the team came together every Sunday with their coach, Betty Bohringer, via Zoom video call, where they frequently spoke with one another and played games together.

When things calmed down and everyone returned to school for the 2021 season, circumstances were not the same as they had been during Almonte’s successful freshman year. The Student Athletics Center, where they would practice and play home games, was being utilized as a Covid vaccination site; the team was forced to use a different field at Farmingdale State College. The trip from Old Westbury to Farmingdale added to the player’s already demanding routine of training and playing every day. 

In addition, the women’s soccer team had just seven players at the beginning of the 2021 season as opposed to the 20 girls Almonte played with in her freshman year, rendering them undermanned. Due to the Panthers’ lack of practice time and understaffing, that season was not successful.

Despite everything, Almonte did not allow it to hinder her and became a driving force for the team, building it back up to what it once was.

During one of the practices that fall, Bohringer announced that Almonte would take over as the team’s captain based on her ability to lead and her commitment. Almonte happily accepted the role and has been in charge of the team for the past 18 months, steadily regaining their previous level of dynamism.

“Mia has been an exemplary soccer player and leader that thrives on competition, she is college quality, she plays every game as if it is her last and we will miss her positive work rate every day,” Bohringer said during senior night. 

Almonte has been recognized by the Skyline Conference for her tenacity in playing the midfield and forward positions, in which she has scored 27 goals and added nine assists in her career. 

Almonte is not done yet and hopes to lead her team to the championship in the coming year before she graduates, just in time as the Old Westbury sports teams get their Student Athletics Center and field back for practice and games in the spring. 

“I feel like soccer is my escape from reality because when I’m at practice, I’m fully there, when I’m at games, I’m fully there,” Almonte said. “I love when soccer season comes around and I anticipate the season to come.”