AOTW: Kristelle Silva

Age 17 | School Brawley | Grade Senior

In an ideal world, Kristelle Silva would get to score all of the goals.

Well, it would be ideal for the Brawley girls’ soccer team, anyway.

Unfortunately for the Wildcats, their opponents — how dare them — have a nasty habit of trying to stop her from doing so.

Silva, now a senior, has been an integral team member since her sophomore year, and league opponents have learned to treat her with generous respect when formulating their defensive game plans.

She’ll often find herself dogged around the pitch by one or even two defenders tasked specifically with denying her the ball rather than guarding a patch of grass — a strategy known as marking.

But Silva does her best not to let this get her down. She prides herself on her mobility and elusiveness and has managed to get away from her minders often enough this season to bang home 12 goals — for an average of just over one per game — helping the Wildcats race out to an 8-1-2 record to start the season.

Over the past week and change Brawley has won three out of four, with the other game ending in a zero-all tie.

The tie was against Southwest in the first game of the annual Martha Arroyo Tournament, hosted by Holtville.

Brawley would go on to win that tournament, beating Mountain Empire 1-0 (Silva scored the only goal) and Calexico 2-0 in the final (Silva was on the board in that one, too).

The Wildcats followed up their tournament win with a rematch against Southwest on Tuesday.

This time they won 2-1, with Silva again making her mark. Brawley coach Hugo Ortega gives Silva a lot of credit for the team’s early-season success.

“Teams prepare for her,” he said, “but she’s worked a lot in practice (to overcome this).”

Ortega also praised her ability to keep the team on its line, saying, “She’s our captain, and she’s able to lead the team. Everyone respects her.”

For her part, Silva is enjoying her final season out there on the field. She’s a big fan of this year’s squad, calling it, “really good, and not just soccer-wise … we’re really close as a team.”