Couch: Mexican legend, local stars mix on Lansing women's soccer team
Former Mexican national team captain Fatima Leyva headlines foreign-local blend on Michigan Chill's first-year WPSL team
LANSING – At 36 years old, coming back from a foot injury and playing her final summer of organized soccer, Fatima Leyva sticks out like a sore big toe.
She’s that good.
And, for the next two months, she’s Lansing’s own. Leyva, once the captain of the Mexican women’s national soccer team, is the headliner on Michigan Chill SC’s first-year Women’s Premier Soccer League team, which plays its home games at Hope Sports Complex on Lansing’s South Side.
“She’s different than any player I’ve had the opportunity to play with,” said Chill SC teammate and former Okemos star, Ashton Miller, an All-ACC midfielder last season as a sophomore at Duke University. “She’s so crafty. She can get out of any space, no matter how small, no matter how many people are on her. And she’s just so relaxed.”
Chill SC, which begins its home WPSL schedule Wednesday night against Motor City FC, is mostly a collection of Division I collegiate players. Some have local ties. Five are from MSU (the maximum allowed by NCAA rule). Others, including Miller, Williamston’s Caitlyn Clem (Wisconsin) and Okemos’ Erin Doster (UMass), are hometown kids who are collegiate standouts elsewhere.
The WPSL, around since 1997, is not all that different from Lansing United’s league, the NPSL. WPSL teams are both professional and amateur, but if they choose to be professional, college players cannot play. Chill SC is a completely amateur club. The value of this team to its players is in the development and experience.
But what makes this roster interesting — while also enhancing the experience and development — is Chill SC’s international oomph, primarily from Mexico. That includes Mexican national team players Fabiola Ibarra and Monica Flores, Mexican U-20 midfielder Eva Gonzalez and Brazil U-20 forward Jennifer Westendorf.
And, of course, Leyva.
All of them are in Lansing this summer because of their connection to 42-year-old Chill SC coach Jorge Eufracio, whose far-reaching ties to players, coaches and clubs — aided by stints working with the Mexican and Irish national organizations — allowed for Chill SC’s first roster to be such a compelling blend. And to have a player as notable as Leyva.
Eufracio’s relationship with Levya dates back a decade to his days coaching her with FC Indiana, which is now also in the WPSL (Chill SC won its opener there, 3-2, Friday). She hadn’t played competitively in two years until Eufracio asked her have a swan song in Lansing, to help him with this endeavor and to go out on her terms, perhaps launching her own coaching career this summer, as a player-coach.
She agreed. On the field, “We’re on the same channel,” Leyva said.
Her name has been mentioned as a possible replacement for Leo Cuellar, recently ousted, as Mexican women’s national team coach. She was a founding member of the national team in 1998 and played in the 1999 World Cup and the 2004 Olympics. From 2010-15, she played professionally in Russia.
“Fatima, in my country, is a big deal,” said Chill SC teammate Ibarra, a 22-year-old midfielder who scored a goal for the Mexican national team in last year’s World Cup in Canada.
Leyva no longer has the wheels or endurance she once had. But she’s as efficient as ever.
“She knows when to (sprint) and when not and plays smart,” Eufracio said. “‘Do I have to run for the that? No, I know I’ll get it here. I’ll wait.’ She runs at the right time, to the right space and when she gets it, she knows what to do with the ball.”
Leyva’s value to Chill SC is not just how she impacts winning and community interest. It’s also her influence on teammates, all of whom are least 13 years younger than her, fascinated by her skills and pacing, and willing to listen.
“For me, it’s easy,” she said. “When I talked to them, there’s no argument.”
This is part of the developmental piece, which Eufracio sees as being at the core of what he’s trying to accomplish.
“If you really care about developing, forget about the score,” Eufracio said. “Sometimes you have to sacrifice the score. Like with defenders, instead of kicking long balls because you’re in a dangerous area, I want you to find someone and start passing. We want to play the right way. For me, I want them to win when they go back to their national team, when they go back to their college team.”
Eufracio’s reputation for development helped to lure this diverse roster on short notice. This team wasn’t even an idea until last winter. That’s when Michigan Chill owner Kevin Mullin was introduced to Eufracio through a friend at a coaching convention.
“I was not looking at a women’s side at all,” said Mullin, a dentist by day. “We were basically looking for another (youth) coach.
“His connections in the soccer world were amazing. It was impressive enough and his background was strong enough, we actually restructured our entire youth organization to accommodate him.”
Mullin, his wife Julie — who plays a larger operational role for the club — and executive director Ben Jones hired Eufracio, making him Chill SBC Soccer Club girls technical director.
The WPSL team was Eufracio’s concept. And, as long as it doesn’t hemorrhage money, it fits with the club’s mission.
“A lot of our (elite players’) families were saying, ‘We want high-level training over the summer, but there’s nothing for the girls,’” Mullin said.
This summer, there is. Ashton Miller, for example, doesn’t have to make the four-hour commute to play for the Chicago Red Stars WPSL team, as she did a year ago. Emerging area high school star Olivia Trombley, just a junior at St. Johns, has a place to train with other elite and more seasoned athletes right in her own backyard. Trombley started Friday’s game and held her own in Chill SC’s win at FC Indiana, assisting on a goal.
Okemos’ Kristelle Yewah, who plays at MSU, scored for Chill FC in that game. As did MSU’s Jamie Cheslik. And, not surprisingly, Leyva.
“I don’t have 24-year-old legs,” Leyva said. “But I have a lot of experience.”
Contact Graham Couch at gcouch@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @Graham_Couch.
Chill SC home opener
Opponent: Motor City FC
When: 7 p.m. Wednesday
Where: Hope Soccer Complex, Lansing
Tickets: Adults $8; Children $5 (free 2-under)
Find a full schedule here.