Christina Ozzimo has played a large role on her soccer team this year, helping the Nipomo Titans end their season with a 13-8-2 record and their first trip to the CIF playoffs since 2005.
She’s been kicking soccer balls around since she was 5 years old. By the time she turned 8, her friends were playing soccer in clubs and convinced her to try out. After seeing the young Ozzimo play in a scrimmage game, the coach asked her to join. The rest, as they say, is history.
But history is still being written. Ozzimo is only a junior this season and will be returning next year to the field, where she’s certain the team will be able to recreate this year’s magic.
“You will see Nipomo in CIF next year,” she said confidently. “We will get there.”
Ozzimo believes her team has significantly improved since last year thanks to its new coach, Josh Lee, who has instilled a spirit of team bonding.
“This year we had a lot of new coaches. We’ve had a new coach every year,” Ozzimo said. “Coach Lee really bonded with our team and gave us the motivation to work hard and push ourselves to be the best we can. That was huge for us this year.”
In return, Lee praised Ozzimo’s hard work ethic and her status as an all-around great player.
“She works hard in practices and on the field,” Lee said. “She’s a very aggressive player and has really good speed. She’s very fast, with good ball feel. She’s not afraid to take centers on and has the ability to get into the box and create scoring opportunities.”
Though Ozzimo is the team’s leading scorer, she isn’t satisfied with her output and said that she works during the offseason to improve her scoring percentage.
“Although I made a couple of goals this season, there [were] plenty of shots that I took that I should have made, but I missed,” she explained.
After high school, Ozzimo, who has a 4.0 GPA, wants to attend a four-year college and stay involved in sports. She said that if she isn’t playing sports, she wants to be involved as a physical therapist.
Ozzimo said her favorite aspect of soccer is the team dynamic. She acknowledged that the Titans’ success this season couldn’t be given solely to one person: “It’s really a team effort, and all the girls contributed to everything.”
This article appears in Feb 23 – Mar 1, 2012.