Ivonne Vasquez is pretty darn versatile. She can score a goal, fill your plate with chicken and broccoli, set up a teammate to score, sell you a long-sleeved laced grommet top, or prevent an opposing forward from getting off a good shot.
A lot of times she‘s doing all of it in one weekend.
As the glue that holds the Nottingham High girls’ soccer team together, Vasquez is one of the Colonial Valley Conference’s top two-way midfielders.
But a gal can’t live by soccer alone, so Vasquez saves for college while picking up extra spending money with two part-time jobs. She makes sure the food gets on the dishes at Panda Express restaurant in Hamilton, and is a cashier Aeropostale in Quakerbridge Mall—all in between travel and high school soccer games and practices.
That’s a lot of hours for a kid to put in.
“I work two days a week at Panda and three days a week at Aeropostale,” Vasquez said, adding with a laugh, “I know, I live a depressing life.”
Throw in frequent trips to the gym and most would call it an active, productive life. Northstars’ coach Christie Fink is glad to be a part of it. In Vasquez, she has a two-time Mercer 33 selection and All-CVC performer helping lead the way on a young squad.
“She’s the heart and soul of our midfield and our team,” Fink said. “She’s definitely a good leader for us on and off the field. She’s a great kid. And when she gets the ball; it’s that calming feeling for us as coaches. She’s also very dangerous with the ball. I love watching her play.”
Vasquez is a born midfielder. She began playing in Hamilton rec at age 6 and was a supposed defender, but as she noted, positioning at that age doesn’t mean much since the whole team just chases the ball around like a swarm of bees. Upon joining the Hamilton Wildcats travel program (now the NJ Rush) at age 8, “they just put me at midfield and I’ve been playing it my whole life. I’m pretty comfortable at that position.”
It’s not the easiest spot when it comes to comfort level, as any good midfielder must be in tune with everything happening on the field, both in front of and behind her. Vasquez is equipped for it.
“She has great vision on the field,” Fink said. “She sees things that most players don’t see.”
It’s an attribute Vasquez feels is imperative in her role.
“Having visuals, being able to see the field is important,” she said. “I guess it just comes naturally. I just come out and do it. If I thought about why, I would definitely overthink it.”
And with all that she can do, that would be a heck of a lot to have to (over)think about.
“She’s good on the ball,” Fink said. “She gets great balls to the outside mids and to forwards. She’s unbelievable on attack. She can pretty much shoot from anywhere. She’s just dangerous and just as good defensively. She’s really just a good all-around player. She’s a little bit of everything. “
Vasquez’s talents were enough to earn her a starting berth as a freshman, and she produced two goals and six assists. When Fink arrived as head coach the following year, Vasquez exploded for 14 goals and two assists.
“I could see right away she had a passion for the game,” Fink said. “She loves the game; she knows the game. She’s not the most vocal player on the field, but she just leads by example. She does the little things right that makes the big picture much easier. She’s definitely a calming force on the field.”
Vasquez’s numbers dropped to four goals and five assists last year, but her level of play was just as high. There were a few reasons for the diminished numbers; one of the biggest being that freshman Gia Girman emerged and took on much of the scoring load, leaving Vasquez to be more of a facilitator and defender.
“When I see an open net or an opening I’ll be a little selfish and take it myself but if I know I can’t, I’ll pass it off,” she said. “I would rather set someone else up because I feel that’s a big role a midfielder plays. They’re the one that feeds the ball to the forwards.”
Feeding Girman is never a bad thing, as she scored five goals in the Northstars 2-0 start this season.
“She and Gia play very well together,” Fink said. “They both obviously know the game pretty well, and they play off of each other a lot. But we have a lot of other players that are really nice complements to them and we’re adding to that. We had some young girls come in and make things happen.”
Vasquez also has a good chemistry will fellow midfielder Emily Midura, as the two have a strong understanding of when to look out for each other.
“When you have someone else playing in the midfield with you it’s all about communicating,” Vasquez said. “When Em wants to go up I’ll cover for her or when I want to go up she’ll cover for me. You can’t just stay with each other in the midfield.”
Vasquez, who has a GPA over 3.5 but has yet to decide on a college, started off well this year with a goal and assist in the first two games. She will likely have to bump up her scoring with teammate Giuliana Pocino out for the season with a torn ACL.
“Losing Giuliana was a crushing blow, our numbers were already low this year,” Fink said. “But we have talent. We have to put a full game together every game. It puts a little more pressure on Ivonne but she can handle it. She’s definitely a very dangerous player in the CVC right now, so she’s gonna be pretty marked up. But she does well at that, she’s good under pressure, I’m not worried about it. She’ll hopefully put some away for us and make some things happen.”
Nottingham High’s Ivonne Vasquez has proven her versatility by juggling school, soccer and two part-time jobs. (Photo by Rich Fisher.),
