Chris Schnabel: Player of the week, how does it feel to get this honor, knowing you were awarded it because of your high level of play?
Monica Yanez: “It’s a great accomplishment, I’ve worked really hard during the summer to get ready for this season and I feel this is an award showing that they see you’re working hard, you’ve been scoring goals and here’s something to recognize you for all this hard work. It’s a great accomplishment and I like it.”
CS: Along with player of the week for New Haven, you were named player of the week for the NE-10 conference. What is it like to not only be honored by your school, but by the entire conference?
MY: “It’s a great accomplishment, I’m happy. I’ve been working really hard. The conference is noticing and its great to be noticed and out of all 11 players on the field they notice me and that’s good.”
CS: You lead the conference in 11 goals and are tied for second with another student athlete in points, 25. What has kept your play so consistent? In other words, what have you done to stay so consistent?
MY: “I just keep playing my game, I just try to score. I don’t feel it’s about keeping up with scores or stats, it’s about leading the team to victory. We want to make the tournament, we want to lead the team through the conference and show that we can do this and show them what kind of team we are. I’m not really focused on my overall goals, it’s good that I’m the leading scorer right now with 11 goals in the conference, but I just want the team to be up there and for them to notice us and see who we are, New Haven.”
CS: One of the athletes you share the lead with is teammate and former newhavencharger.com player of the week Amber Simms. I’ll ask you the same question I asked her: does it take the pressure off when you have someone along side you playing as well as you are during the season?
MY: “It does take the pressure off of me because we are both the same type of player. We’re both really competitive and we connect so well with the ball, that we just know where to go to score and where to pass the ball. We have a great connection so it does take the pressure off me a little bit just knowing that I can have somebody by my side and knowing what she is doing, that way we can score the goals and win the game.”
CS: What’s it like playing in your hometown, coming from here in West Haven?
MY: “It was the best decision I ever made! I love this school and just being in West Haven and representing West Haven here at UNH is a great feeling. My high school coaches come here, along with my travel coaches, and my parent’s come to every game. Again representing West Haven is a great feeling”
CS: Does being a senior put pressure on you to win?
MY: “It does. It’s your last year; you just want to win as many games as you can and score as many goals as you can. I hope something better comes in the future, but now I just want to do the best that I can and hopefully get something out of it at the end.”
CS: You’re a multi-sport athlete. Is it more difficult doing more than one sport, in addition to having to deal with school?
MY: “It’s really hard. Everybody after soccer just has the off season, but I actually have to continue to compete every single weekend, which takes all of my weekends away to do homework and stuff so its really hectic, but I keep up with it. I did it in high school, I have done it for three years now, so one more year is not going to hurt me, I’ll just try to do my best.”
