An injury when she was very young nearly kept Bloom’s Charlene Mendoza away from soccer forever.
Another injury — this one to her brother — motivated her to return to the game.
Mendoza, a junior forward who has already poured in 40 goals this season for Bloom (16-2), was scarred for a long time by pain suffered on the soccer field.
“I was 4 years old and I was playing soccer and I hurt my ankle,” she said. “I think I stepped in a hole. After that, I was too scared to get back on the field.
“I stopped playing and I didn’t start again until I was like 10.”
Her older brother, Jamie, provided the inspiration.
“I grew up watching my brother play,” Mendoza said. “He scored a lot of goals too. It was an everyday thing watching him practice and play and seeing how much fun he had and how much he enjoyed it.
“That kind of got me back into it.”
What really pushed her, though, is when Jamie suffered an injury that kept him from playing high school soccer.
“He got injured and dislocated his knee and that’s kind of when I started playing more to try to keep the family still in soccer,” she said. “He’s always been a motivation for me since we were younger.
“He still goes to my games and helps me with what I do wrong and what I need to improve.”
Mendoza scored 37 goals last season.
“She’s strong and doesn’t shy away from contact,” Bloom coach Zack Radtke said. “She’s able to get past a defender. With her skill and ability to finish, you put that all together, she’s just been unstoppable.”
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Mendoza is succeeding despite opposing defenses focusing on her.
“Some coaches are giving me marks with specific players,” she said. “I just focus on how the defense plays at the beginning and then see what I can do to get away from them or open up space. I just think of different ways I can attack.”
Mendoza has caught fire over the last couple weeks, scoring 26 goals in her last eight games.
That includes a five-goal performance in a 6-4 win over Mother McAuley, which eliminated Bloom in the playoffs last season and in 2019.
“I showed up to that game really focused,” she said. “I think it was one of our biggest games of the season, especially knowing how many times they’ve beat us in the past and how important it was for a lot of the seniors and our coaches.”
Serenity now: Oak Forest was hampered by an early season injury to junior goalkeeper Serenity Berrios, who earned all-sectional honors in 2021.
“Serenity dislocated her shoulder four games into the season and we had to put a field player into the net,” Bengals coach Pam Whitehead said. “Not only did it make us weaker in the net, it also shook the confidence of the whole team a bit.”
Berrios is back and the Bengals (5-6-3) have gone 3-0-1 since her return, including a big 1-0 win over rival Tinley Park.
“It’s not only her excellent goaltending,” Whitehead said. “The girls really believe in her, and she gives them more confidence to go forward and do more attacking.”
Senior Tereza Progri leads Oak Forest with five goals.
Two-sport star: Becoming a four-year varsity player in one sport is hard enough, but Shepard senior Leah Rizzo has done it in two.
Rizzo, who was the South Suburban Red’s player of the year in volleyball last fall, is a captain for the soccer team and has scored six goals.
“I get to be more aggressive on the soccer field, go at girls shoulder to shoulder and be physical,” Rizzo said. “Volleyball is more finesse and I enjoy that part, too.”
Steve Millar is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
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