Charger Spotlight:Gabriela Chavez By; Tyler Garnet

“Charger Spotlight” begins with

Gabriela Chavez, a senior who is a

Health Science major from

Massachusetts. She is a center/midfielder for the University of New Haven

Women’s Soccer Team.

The goal of her last season here is, “to cherish the moment.” The coronavirus

pandemic has put a halt on many things in the world for almost a year now. You

never know when things like this are going to occur and take things away from you

so quickly so you “just have to roll with the punches.” Whether it be an actual

season game or a scrimmage against another school, in Gabriela’s last season she is

trying to make the most of it.

Soccer has been in her blood since she was three years old. Between her Uncles

and Dad playing or her younger brother and her battling to see who is better at the

sport, Gabriela has been surrounded by soccer. Her Dad is also from Ecuador

which has a big soccer culture. Gabriela was an active kid who usually had her dad

as the coach. Even though Dad can be the toughest coach “to approve,” Gabriela

still “fell in love with the sport” and has been playing ever since.

One of the traditions that the school team used to do was wrap their wrist and write

who they play for on the tape. One side would read “UNH Soccer team” while the

other side would read whatever you want it to be like “family” or “friends” or even

as simple as “So I don’t have to do homework.” With Gabriela being a health

services major who knows how serious Covid is, I'm sure her and her team wrists

would read that they would play “to have a season and keep it safe.” If there is

indeed a final few games, Gabriela thinks that the scrimmages they might have,

one of them will hopefully be a “senior night.” Every player never wants to stop

playing but a senior night is a great way to end a career. Gabriela has already

thought of a career after the University of New Haven and soccer and has begun to

apply for nursing schools.

Right now she just hopes that the team can get together one more time because

with Covid protocols, teams are only allowed to train in small groups. One thing

she tells the underclassmen is “step up to the plate” as their turn is next once the

seniors graduate. Gabriela has had many great memories from being on the soccer

team like scoring her first goal at home with her family in attendance. She hopes to

make many more memories in soccer and her last semester.