Senior Natalia Portillo is the girls soccer goalkeeper who’s been playing since age five, and has played for the school since her junior year. 

She tried other sports growing up, but had a true passion for soccer and plans to keep playing in college. She has been playing for a long time and knows that for her, to get better at her sport means she puts in the work. 

“I do like the work ethic and the amount of effort you have to put in the sport,” said Portillo. 

She puts in the work on and off the field while getting her grades up to date. Portillo has been playing for West Covina FC, a club soccer team that she has been playing with since she was 10-years-old. Club soccer teams are competitive and means that players are exceptional at their sport. With her club team her biggest accomplishment was going undefeated league champs. 

“I wanted the challenge and club teams always had challenging players,” said Portillo.

Portillo’s favorite memory this year with her soccer team was playing hide and seek during their team Christmas party. This is her favorite memory because it was the first time the team really felt like a team. She’s big on family and when she saw the family being formed that night, it made her feel special. She knew that to play as a team they had to become a family. 

With her soccer team becoming this family it can make it easier to play on the field together. Playing with teams can be hard because you have to always work together. Portillo believes the team’s hardest game was playing against San Dimas, a Division 4 in girls soccer while West Covina is Division 5. Being in a lower division means these girls had a challenge ahead of them. They put in the work in practice and played until the end with their heads held high. 

“The game was a challenge, but we had to keep our heads up regardless of the outcome,” said Portillo.

One of the great difficulties is that she believes her ability is underestimated and undermined because of her appearance. Her way of getting through these thoughts is to always try her best and put her best foot forward. Portillo believes that when people see her they don’t think she will be able to keep up but she has a mindset where she never lets the other team get to her head and she plays her best and gives it her all out on the field.

“I play my game. I play to the best of my ability no matter the outcome. I also play whole hearted and 110% effort,” said Portillo.