STEPPING UP
Eagles’ Pedro got a taste of winning. Now she wants more
The Pueblo East girls soccer team has been growing and rebuilding for a few years now.
Three years ago, the team won one game, followed by a winless season. Last year the team saw a turnaround when they won three games. This year, the team has many new faces and the younger players look very promising for this program’s future.
For senior Eliza Pedro, playing soccer originally started as a sport to play with friends, a hobby if you will. Now, after getting a taste for winning, the senior Eagle is playing for more than just for fun.
“I started playing soccer in seventh grade, and then eighth grade was COVID year, so I didn’t get to play. But I came back and started playing with my sister and I really enjoyed it,” Pedro said.
She explained how playing the sport for fun turned into a passion.
“In middle school, I didn’t get to play because I never played before, so it was kind of just for fun,” Pedro said. “Then starting in ninth grade and 10th grade I still wasn’t that good. I was still doing it for fun. But after 10th grade, I started practicing outside of the season. Then this whole summer I started just practicing during the summer and started working out so I could get stronger. Now I want to see how much better I can be.”
It also helps Pedro and the Eagles squad that the talent level has increased as well.
In her first two years with the team, the Eagles only won one game. In her junior year, that win total increased to four. Now in her senior season, the team has talent and is poised to have the best year in the program in quite some time.
“We started winning games last year and it was really fun, I really did enjoy winning just because we usually just lose,” Pedro said. “But since we started winning, I told myself, I needed to step it up and help out the team.”
Pedro spoke about the changes she saw in the team that led her to take the game more seriously.
“I think the biggest thing is everyone was just putting more effort into the game,” she said, “and some of the people that have, definitely a lot of the like younger kids, are helping out a lot.”
As a senior, Pedro is looking to help guide some of the younger players while still improving her own game.
“I think it helps to keep motivating everybody,” Pedro said. “Because I feel like when you’re just getting mad at
them, it brings people down.”
Pedro has been fortunate enough to play with some great players this year, but nothing is more important to her than getting to play with both of her sisters — she was able to play her first two seasons with her older sister and has played the last two seasons with her younger sister.
“I have three sisters. One of them played with me my first two years and then I have a little sister that has played with me, my junior and my senior year,” Pedro said. “I think we’re way closer because we have something in common and we’re able to go do it together. We definitely would get annoyed at each other, but other than that, we liked it.”
Pedro said she learned about playing with her team from her older sister and now she is hoping to help guide her younger sister along as well by teaching her the ropes.
Being able to play with her sisters and her friends has been the biggest highlight of Pedro’s career so far and it’s something that she will cherish for a long time.
“I like the memories of the road trips, the out-of-town trips, especially against a team like Rye for example, I loved playing on their field,” Pedro said.
After high school, Pedro wants to go to college and study business and, if possible, continue to play soccer at least on a casual level. She also enjoys music and has recently gotten into glass-blowing through her church.
Pedro hopes to finish this season out with a few more wins.
The Eagles are currently 1-4 on the season and 0-2 in South-Central League play.