Local product's hustle helps boost Scorpions

The women’s soccer team at the University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College includes standout players from such faraway places as England, Germany and Canada. There’s also a standout from Brownsville’s own back yard.

Linette Cuvillier, a 2006 Los Fresnos graduate, is a 5-foot sophomore forward for the Scorpions who is tied for second on the team in scoring with eight goals behind Leah Russell’s 15. Verena Wonsikowski also has eight goals.

Cuvillier, an exercise science major, is a starter for the second straight year. She scored nine goals and registered three assists in 2008.

The Scorpions (11-4-2) won the Red River Athletic Conference Tournament on Nov. 7 in Fort Worth and play host to Southern Nazarene University (16-3-1) at 3 p.m. Saturday at REK Center Field in the opening round of the NAIA national tournament. After the women’s match, the UTB-TSC men (17-0-1) take on Biola University (13-4-2) of California at 6 p.m. in another NAIA Tournament opening-round match.

UTB-TSC women’s coach Nikola “Nik” Barjaktarevic is pleased with how well his players have come together and played as a team despite their quite diverse soccer backgrounds. It’s satisfying to see team members from the Rio Grande Valley figure into the mix as well, he said.

Cuvillier is one of five Valley players active on the squad and the only one who starts. Two others are redshirting this season.

“It’s been great for us to have Linette on the team,” Barjaktarevic said. “Frankly, it doesn’t really matter where a player is from because we try to pick (recruit) the best players. She’s not only a good player to have on the team to add her Valley style of soccer, she’s just a good player to have in the mix that we have.

“I have a very high opinion of her abilities,” he added. “She’s one of our captains and she’s been a good goal scorer for us. With her, it’s her leadership and hard work. She’s a great player to work with because she wants to learn. I think the way she hustles transfers to the rest of the team. I believe every year we’ve gotten more aggressive (pursuing the ball).”

Cuvillier said never giving up on the ball is something she has always attempted to do.

“I try to put everything I have into it and try not to give up (on the ball),” she said. “I’ve always played like that. I put my best into it and I love doing it. When someone plays like that, it makes other people want to do it, too. (This season), I’m seeing more of everybody trying to do that on the team.”

The unity that exists on the current Scorpions squad has meant everything, said Cuvillier, whose best game came at home on Oct. 17 when she had a hat trick to highlight UTB-TSC’s 6-0 conference win over Bacone College.

“I feel one of our strongest points is how we try to play together as a team,” she said. “We try to communicate and try to be more of a unit. We put all our effort out there, and actually, it’s more that we put all our hearts into it. That’s been one of the keys (to our success).”

A victory Saturday over Southern Nazarene easily would rank as the most eventful moment to date in the three-year existence of the women’s soccer program at UTB-TSC.

“We have to put everything into this game, and everybody has to work hard and do their job,” Cuvillier said. “I think we can do it. To win would just be amazing. It’s something we’ve talked about since the very beginning (of the season).

“For us to go there (NAIA Sweet 16 in Alabama with a win Saturday) would mean that we did everything we could and that our dreams had come true,” she added.

Roy Hess writes for Valley Freedom Newspapers. You can reach him via e-mail at rhess@brownsvilleherald.com.