Orange Belt Girls Soccer Player of Year: Zoe Rios
Forward led MHS in scoring and to playoffs
There’s always something to be said about the players who lead by example with their consistency and play rather than with their voice — players like Zoe Rios.
A captain and forward for Monache High School girls soccer, Rios, was usually the quietest player on the field but her skforwardill spoke volumes especially when the ball was at her feet.
Rios led the Marauders (12-9-3, 4-6 EYL) in scoring and assists, and was the only area player — boy or girl — to score against two eventual CIF Central Section Champion teams. She’s The Recorder’s 2019-20 Orange Belt Girls Soccer Player of the Year.
For Rios, the pitch is her home and where she is free.
“When I get on the field I just feel stress free,” Rios said. “It keeps me motivated, and it helps with my confidence. It helps me build relationships with other people and it keeps me out of trouble.”
Ever since she was little and playing with her three siblings in the front yard, Rios’ heart was set on soccer. When she was eight, she started playing club with South Valley Chivas Academy with current Porterville High head coach, Jacob Rivas, and her dad Jesse Rios, as her coaches.
That time with the Chivas is what MHS head coach, Tino Rodriguez, believes turned Rios into the competitor she is today and the one the Marauders could always count on in tough situations.
“It’s from that level of competition like saying, ‘Let’s not play down, let’s play to our level,’” Rodriguez said. “So she’s trying to lead everybody as in, we need to all play like this.”
Rios led the Marauders with 15 goals this season, but it’s against which opponents that make many of the goals stand out.
The crucial goals began in the preseason when Rios scored the team’s lone goal against Centennial (18-5-3) in a 1-1 tie. Centennial finished the season as the CIF Central Section Division II champions after dropping from Div. I last season.
“They were (previously) a D1 school and we were playing really tough that game and our passes were pretty solid,” Rios said. “We were taking good shots but we couldn’t put it in the net.”
That was until Rios intercepted a defender’s pass and took a shot that sailed into the top right corner of the goal. It was her favorite game of the season.
A week later Rios had a four-goal performance against Div. IV Fresno (12-9-2) after a bad 5-1 loss to Div. II Madera South (12-12-4), another game where Rios scored the lone goal, in the Mclane Winter Classic. It was that Fresno game that showed not only Rios’ talent but her ability to lead her team.
“It was like, ‘Follow me, let’s score,’” Rodriguez said. “To be honest with you, we got embarrassed by Madera and everybody was kind of down. … That following game we could’ve stayed down. But she’s the one who scored our first two goals in that game. She scored four in that game but it was the big turning point in the girls following her after that.”
Rios had an assist and six goals in the fourgame tournament. Her final goal came on a free kick late in a 1-0 win over eventual-div. IV champion Orosi (222-6).
“It was really fun,” Rios said about the tournament. “We really bonded as a team. We did really good with our passing and shots and everything. I think we did really good that tournament.”
The win made the Marauders tournament champions and broke Orosi’s 12-game unbeaten streak. It was also the only loss Orosi took this season aside from a 2-0 loss to Sacramento’s El Camino (11-6-5) in the opening round of the CIF State Div. IV Southern Regional Championships.
Moving Rios from left winger to forward during the season because of her speed and touch were key in helping the senior accomplish one of her main goals — score more goals to get the team to the playoffs.
“It’s for the team, for all of us to score,” Rios said about scoring. “To get our goal scores up and then get to playoffs, cause that was our goal.
To get to playoffs.” But it wasn’t easy. With Rios being a fouryear varsity starter, and the reigning Central Section East All-star MVP, she was well known and opponents targeted her.
“I thought she handled it pretty good,” Rodriguez said. “I know there was, especially in our league, because of course they know her, it was hit, boom! ... But she was willing to play and take that so that she could actually dish it off if she had too or go down and score if she
was able too.”
Because that’s one other thing that made the All-east Yosemite League, first-team selection key for the Marauders — she was unselfish. She finished the season with six assists, tied for the most on the team with fellow forward Jiselle Batres. Her assists were also one of the things her dad and MHS assistant coach, Jesse Rios, was most proud of her for.
“That’s saying something of somebody who is a striker, goal scorer, but also leads the team in assists,” Jesse said about Zoe. “She’s drawing all the attention and she’s smart enough to give up a great pass.”
Jesse and Zoe’s relationship is a close one. Her mother’s always supported her through years of playing but her dad has always been at her side, literally, training her from the beginning and teaching her to find strength within herself.
“Ever since my dad started coaching me he has always taught me to learn from my mistakes,” Zoe said. “He always motivates me and makes sure I keep my head up. We always trained even outside of practice, whether it was kicking the ball in the front yard or going to school and working on my shots and improving my skill set. Having him coach me my four years at Monache helped me grow immensely as a player.
“If I was nervous before a game he would talk to me and help me out of my nerves,” Rios said. “Having him on the sidelines watching me through the good and bad is a memory I’ll always hold dear to my heart. He’s extremely hardworking in everything he does, especially coaching and the effort he’s put in not only for me but for all his players over the years is admirable. I am forever thankful to have him as my father, coach, and my best friend.”
Family is everything to Zoe. It’s why she chose to represent firefighters Patrick Jones and Ray Figueroa who lost their lives battling the Porterville City Library fire on Feb. 18 by using a helmet from the fallen firefighters’ engine. She too has family members who are firefighters, and her cousin, Manny Santoyo, is an emergency medical technician (EMT) as well as a popular photographer in town.
“I just really wanted to represent them and show how important they are to our community,” Zoe said.
Wanting to represent her family well is just another reason why Zoe was able to make this season as a Marauder her best; she wasn’t just playing with teammates, she was playing with family.
“They’re more like family, like sisters,” Zoe said. “Like we can always talk to each other about anything off the field. On the field we’re just really close as a team. Had a good bond with each other.”
That bond carried the team to their first Div. II playoff appearance since Zoe’s freshman year. It didn’t go as well as planned and 11thseeded Monache lost 4-1 to sixth-seed Sanger (1413), but once again it was Zoe who helped the Marauders avoid being shut out with a goal in the second half. Likely the last of her high school career if the Central Section All-star Game is canceled due to quarantines for the coronavirus pandemic.
Still Zoe is able to walk away from her final season with her head held high because she did everything she set out to do this season and paved a way to continue playing soccer at the next level.
Next season she’ll begin the nursing program at West Hills College Lemoore and join the Golden Eagles’ women’s soccer program, where head coach Jasara Gillette has had an eye on her since her junior year.