AWC’s Samaniego signs with Minot St.
Cinthya Samaniego’s press conference Wednesday at Arizona Western opened with a question from Matador football coach Tom Minnick, who asked the soccer star if she had plenty of warm clothes to take with her to North Dakota.
“You better buy a lot,” Minnick said after Samaniego said she had some, while those in attendance all laughed.
Samaniego is taking her talents to Minot State University in Minot, N.D., having signed with the NCAA Division II program on Wednesday’s National Signing Day.
The former Kofa High School standout is coming off two stellar seasons at AWC, during the last of which she totaled 26 goals and 14 assists while earning Arizona Community College Athletic Conference Player of the Year and NJCAA First-Team honors.
According to Samaniego, she was relatively lightly recruited for a player with such accolades — though her AWC coach, Alexia Poon, clarified after the press conference that that wasn’t exactly the case.
Minot State came onto Samaniego’s radar a few weeks ago, when it offered AllAmerican her a full-ride scholarship and invited her for a visit to the some 3,000-student school in the 40,000-person city.
“I never thought I was going to get an offer that far (away), so at first I was like, ‘I’m not going,’” Samaniego said. “But obviously (Poon) convinced me and I went. Everything is so different over there. The coach is a good coach, it’s great soccer, so there’s no reason to say no.”
Samaniego said that Minot State was the only school to offer her a full-