At just 14 years old and a freshman at the Morgan School, Mia Zhiminaicela earned herself a starting position on the Morgan girl’s soccer varsity team this fall season, a position, not many freshmen get to experience. She is one of the first freshmen to have a starting position on this team in almost five years.

 Mia joined the Morgan girls soccer team not knowing exactly what to expect. She started the season being swing, which meant she was both on the junior varsity and varsity rosters and was expected to play all games. About a few weeks into the season, she found herself a permanent spot solely on the varsity roster, and she started at the outside winger position. She was not used to playing outside winger a lot but was able to learn throughout the season. 

The Morgan girls’ head coach Jonathan Harder commented, “Mia was a solid contributor to the team the entire season. She improved weekly and earned a starting spot early in the season because of her growth and solid performances. At some point, Mia clearly gained confidence in her abilities and started dominating her area of the field. We expect Mia to be a leader on the field next year through her strong play and even stronger determination to beat her opponent.” 

In total, for the season, Mia scored four goals. Her first three goals were a hat trick, meaning she had three goals in one game, against Coginchaug in the Shoreline Semi-finals round, helping the team with a 5-1 win. Her fourth goal was scored in the second round of the state tournament, resulting in a 5-0 win against Valley Regional.

Mia said, “The biggest accomplishment from this season was winning the Shoreline Championship. We all worked very hard throughout the summer, and the season, and then we won, and it paid off.”

The difference between playing at the middle school level to the varsity high school level is nothing short of a jump. She explained, “[The high school soccer experience] was way different from middle school because the coaches pushed us more this year.” she also added, “Everyone was very nice and welcoming towards everyone else, and everyone got along and cared for each other.”

Mia has been playing soccer since she was three years old, and ever since then, it has become her passion. Mia says, “I started playing soccer and it just became my favorite thing. I liked playing with my sister as well when I was younger.” Her father, Luis, played when he was younger and decided to also put his daughters into soccer. Mia’s two older sisters have played soccer as well. Mia’s oldest sister, Karol, 22 years old, played soccer for six years, including all four years of high school on the Morgan soccer team.

Glenda, who is 18 years old, Mia’s other sister, started playing soccer around the same age as Mia and has been playing for around 15 years. She also played on the Morgan girls soccer team and currently plays on the Eastern Connecticut State University’s women’s soccer team as a freshman starter. 

Glenda said, “I’m so proud of all of Mia’s hard work paying off and others recognizing her talent and

her efforts. She’ll always be my little sister and I get nervous seeing her play, but I know she’ll always do amazing, she’s tough. I couldn’t ask for a better, not so little, little sister.” 

“My whole family is very competitive, where we always just want to win. So there is always a lot of pressure for me to do good, especially from my dad, just because he wants me to do good,” said Mia. 

Mia not only spends her time playing soccer but also devotes her time to running track, and she is also hoping to join the Morgan girls tennis team this spring. She ran track for three years in middle school and is continuing to run this winter on the indoor track team. 

Outside of school, Mia spends a lot of time playing soccer for a club, Ginga FC. Ginga FC is a soccer club in CT that helps prepare kids for the next level of soccer, hoping to be a pathway to the collegiate and pro levels. Mia has been playing on their 2010 Gold team for about three years, where she practices in Woodbridge, CT.  Her previous coach from when she played for CT Rush, Coach Rodrigo, asked her to come and play on his new Ginga team. On this team, she plays in the center defensive mid-position or CDM.

“If I could give my younger self some advice, it would be, to just keep trying and not be so hard on myself,” Mia said.