Roll Tide.
Such a mantra is not invoked often around Manteca, but the times they are a changing thanks to Buffaloes senior Cami Silva. The four-year starter for the Manteca girls soccer team inked a letter of intent Wednesday to play for the University of Alabama, currently ranked second in the nation.
“She is a brilliant, great player,” Coenenberg said of Silva. “We haven’t seen too many girls that can do what she does with the ball. She is a leader both on and off the field and makes all the players around her better. That is one of the biggest compliments I can give.
“She is a team player. She is unselfish, sometimes to a fault. I can’t say enough about what she has done for the program over the last four years. When she was a freshman, she was a big part of us winning the section title.”
This is the realization of a life-long dream for Silva.
“This is unreal,” Silva said. “I still feel like a freshman at times because four years has gone by so fast. I have dreamed of this since I was 5 years old starting out at Manteca Futbol Club. It is unreal how far I have come. I am proud of myself.
“Of any place I visited, the campus at Alabama was the prettiest and all the history behind it is just amazing. The girls were very welcoming and the staff was amazing. The support system you have at Alabama is like no other with tutoring and all the other support services, especially with going 2,000 miles away from home. That is something I will definitely need.”
Silva has proved a lot of people wrong. Not a very big young lady, Silva’s lack of size led some to say that she would not play at the next level.
“Not bad for a player who I have heard many people say of her that she is really good but too small to play at the next level,” Coenenberg said. I can assure that because of everything she is her size has never been a factor.
“Cami is an inspiration not only to all the athletes at Manteca High, but to my daughter who plays soccer and is also on the smaller side. She looks up to Cami.”
Silva has been the Most Valuable Player and Offensive Player of the Year in the Valley Oak League. She led the Buffaloes to a Sac-Joaquin Section championship in 2020 and a VOL championship in 2020. While at Manteca, the Buffaloes have a record so far of 52-9-6 with her senior season starting this week.
One of the speakers Wednesday night was another four-year starter for Manteca, Silva’s sister Jordyn, who plays for Stanislaus State.
The sisters got to play together for two years and of that stint Jordyn said that when an opposing player would go after her sister, they that player had to deal with both sisters.
There will only be one Silva sister in Tuscaloosa, but she has all of Manteca behind her.
