Monique Boe: Leading the charge
Sometimes a game-changing defensive play is all that stands between victory and defeat.
Monique Boe, the starting goalkeeper of the Santa Monica College women's soccer team, is the player who often makes those plays.
"When I know what I did saved the game, that feeling is just indescribable," said Boe.
With the season still young, Boe, a sophomore captain, is ready to take it in full stride.
Boe began playing soccer with the American Youth Soccer Organization when she was about 5 years old. After initially playing the position of forward, she became a goalkeeper during her AYSO time and fully embraced the position when she started playing club soccer at the age of 9.
"I wasn't very good that first year, but then I hit 10, and I started to get the hang of it, and I fell in love with the position," said Boe.
Being a captain on the team, as well as an anchor on the defensive end, Boe said she wants to be a leader that her teammates and her coaches can go to when they need to communicate.
"I love being a leader," said Boe. "I've always seen myself in a leadership role, so it was really nice to be appointed captain."
While breaking into her new role on the team, Boe also had to adjust to another significant change to the Lady Corsairs. With former assistant coach and new head coach Joe Pehanich now leading the team, Boe has worked with two different coaches in two years.
Still, Boe said that Pehanich's familiarity with the team has been a great asset throughout the season thus far.
"He's a great coach; he really knows all of us really well and he knows how to coach us," said Boe. "We have the greatest coaching staff. We all feel so comfortable around our coaches and trust them so much."
In her second year with the Lady Corsairs, Boe said she loves the program and the group she is playing with, noting that she has even made some best friends while on the team. Their ultimate goal is to win the Western State-South Conference title.
"I want people to respect our team," said Boe. "I think we are really composed, and we play well together. I want people to see girls that really want to play for each other."
Although the start of the season has not gone very smoothly, Boe is optimistic about the team heading forward.
"We got probably the greatest group of individual players, and now we are trying to bring them together as a team," said Boe.
After the season, Boe's final semester of eligibility, she said she hopes to advance as a goalie in soccer through a university. She would eventually like to become a police officer.
"I love being in a uniform and a part of a team so that's my goal," said Boe.