Fighting Owl Q & A Homepage

Throughout the 2009-2010 Sport Seasons, the Citrus College Web-Site will feature Citrus College Student Athletes in a question and answer session about life as a Citrus College Athlete. This weeks feauture athlete is Laura Guzman, freshman Women's Soccer player.

1. How long have you been playing soccer? Since fourth grade. I’ve played AYSO from fourth grade all the way to high school. I played JV in high school, but got hurt my senior year so couldn’t play on the varsity team.

2. Why did you choose Citrus College? I came to Citrus initially because they had the classes that I needed to take. When I started I wasn’t really thinking about playing soccer, but then I realized that there was still a lot of potential for me to continue playing.

3. How have you changed as an athlete? I think it’s been kind of a rough season, but it’s made me learn how to deal with a loss a lot better than I did in the past. At the end of the game even though we didn’t do as well as a team, I can know that I did my best, and can walk of the field with my head held high.

4. How have you changed as a student? I’m definitely more into getting good grades now than I was before. I want to get that A this year, especially because I’m really motivated to get Scholar Baller next year, since I only missed it by a little bit this season. I’m really trying my best in all my classes, and making sure that I show up to class every day.

5. What are some of your best memories so far playing for Citrus? The Oxnard Tournament was a lot of fun, and then when I got my first shut-out of the season at an away game and when I had my first shut-out of the season at home. The home game was the best because I had all of my family in the stands. Also teaching Margarita how to swim was something I’ll never forget.

6. Who are some of the people have affected your life in a positive way here at Citrus? Definitely the coaching staff here at school. [Head Coach] Tim [Tracey] and [Assistant Coach] Brian [Dorman] have done a great job overall. Even though we didn’t win a lot of games they kept the team together. Not once did they turn their backs on us. All of the decisions they made throughout the season, they always did what was best for the team.

7. What has been your favorite class that you have taken here at Citrus? I would say my administrative justice class. It has a lot to do with the career (forensic science) that I want to pursue after college. I realized after my first year of college here after taking a bunch of different classes what kind of career I wanted. The administrative justice class made me fall in love with the subject. I got a good grade in the class, and I stayed interested the whole time.

8. What has been the best thing about going to Citrus? The friends that I have met. I’ve met so many new friends, the atmosphere here has allowed us to really get along with each other.

9. Who has been the biggest influence in your life so far? My family and friends, especially my mom. She’s always been there to support me. Being a single parent she’s always helped me out through my whole soccer career without any help from my father. My family and friends have always been the ones to push me to be where I am at right now.

10. If there was one thing that you could accomplish in the next year what would it be and why? What I want to accomplish next season is to come back and at least make playoffs in 2010. At the very least I want us to win more games than we did this season, and also earning a scholarship to a DI or DII school for soccer.

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