Column: Los Angeles’ Latina club is trying to change the face of women’s soccer
It’s a steamy Saturday morning in Norco, and the girls from downtown are flying.
April Flores streaks downfield, smoothly passes the ball to Nayelli Barahona, who kicks it over to Michelle Bracamonte, who boots a 20-yard laser past a diving goalkeeper.
They leap, they hug, they squeal, and four minutes later, they win. The game is decided by that one goal, the Downtown Los Angeles Soccer Club’s team of 15- and 16-year-olds having slayed another giant in a 1-0 victory over Chino’s champion Legends FC team at the SilverLakes Equestrian and Sports Park.
“It was pretty good,” says a sweaty Bracamonte as she walks away from field 12 with her exhausted teammates. “They body us … we need to body them back.”
For this group of mostly Latina athletes facing economic and cultural battles that have long kept them on the soccer sidelines, the fight continues.
Downtown, as it’s commonly known, is fueled by 175 girls trying to crack the grass ceiling. They are attempting to alter the current women’s soccer portrait of rich and white. They’re hoping to eventually change the face of a World Cup champion U.S. women’s national soccer team whose 23-person roster was missing a key piece in its celebration of diversity.
During a victory speech in New York City this week, U.S. star Megan Rapinoe said, “We got white girls, black girls and everything in between.”
