Best Feet Forward
Niccole Grimaldi and Sophia Medina share space on the soccer field, which, to those who know them well, seems the only plausible place for their lives to overlap.
The Los Alamitos forwards, separated by three years in age, are bound by another similarity: their mastery of the spoken word.
Grimaldi elicited tears from an audience of more than 200 on Jan. 18 as she delivered the closing of an original poem she wrote for the Miss Seal Beach Pageant: “Lord, please give me another chance, don’t let me die, I promise I’ll tell everyone I know, I won’t forget this time.”
The passage from Grimaldi’s piece, “The Door to My Heart,” recounts her religious awakening after a fictional car accident that leaves her in a coma and her friend dead. Grimaldi, a devout Christian, won the talent portion of the competition.
Those verbal skills have translated well on the field. Grimaldi’s instruction, leadership and maturity have been integral in seventh-ranked Los Alamitos’ success this season.
“She is very serious in practice,” said Coach Patrick Rossi, in his first season. “She gets on her teammates occasionally, and they all respect her.”
The Griffins (15-3-2, 4-1 in Sunset League play) had won nine consecutive games heading into the Santa Ana Foothill Excalibur championship game Dec. 31, which they lost, 4-2, to No. 1 San Clemente in a penalty-kick shootout.
Grimaldi and Medina helped Los Alamitos move into first place Thursday in the highly competitive league with a 1-0 victory over Huntington Beach Edison (15-2-3, 4-1-1), avenging a defeat by the same score on Jan. 8. Grimaldi fed a pass to Medina in the 56th minute that led to Thursday’s goal.
Grimaldi, an 18-year-old senior, has committed to Oklahoma State, which she said alleviates pressure to rack up impressive statistics; she has two goals and nine assists this season. Instead, Grimaldi has concentrated on playmaking and controlling the ball while her teammates make runs toward the goal.
Medina, a 15-year-old sophomore, has been the main beneficiary of Grimaldi’s generosity. She has a team-high 13 goals, a product of tremendous speed and body control, which have not gone unnoticed.
This week, Medina returned from a trip to Las Vegas with the prestigious Olympic development team. She is the youngest player on a squad made up primarily of 16- and 17-year-olds from top Southland teams. But Rossi said Medina was uncomfortable hearing the praises.
She’d rather be doing the talking.
Or screaming, as is the case just minutes before any Los Alamitos game, when Medina takes her spot in the middle of a circle and bellows, “Go Los Al,” as teammates toss her 5-foot-1, 105-pound frame around the periphery.
“Bo,” as Medina is known to family and teammates, is perfect for the part. Her booming voice and extroverted personality are in stark contrast to Grimaldi’s understated tone.
Medina is best known for providing levity during stressful moments, as she did during the Excalibur championship game, when the Griffins were reeling after blowing a late two-goal lead. Medina, who had scored both goals for Los Alamitos, broke away with the ball down her team’s sideline.
“I had a lot of space,” said Medina, who, without turning her head or breaking her stride, greeted teammates with a cheery “hello.”
“I saw my teammates getting up to cheer, so I wanted to recognize them,” she said.
Still, Grimaldi and Medina have had a few testy moments this season. In the late stages of a 1-0 victory over Trabuco Hills on Dec. 15, Grimaldi chastised Medina for being sloppy with the ball. In their Dec. 30 Excalibur quarterfinal game against Ventura Buena, which the Griffins eventually won, 2-0, the forwards weren’t connecting on offense early in the game, causing an impromptu halftime meeting.
“I was having a hard time communicating with her,” Medina said. “I realized then how different our styles were.”
The two worked out their problems and have become one of the top forward duos in the Southland this season.
“Both went out of their way to respect each other,” Rossi said. “Since then everything has started clicking.”
