Athletes often struggle when transiting from high school to college athletics.

But there are those like freshman soccer player, Sophia Zertuche, who not only welcome the challenge but go above and beyond what is expected, while being key contributors to their team.

Zertuche, an 18-year-old freshman forward who plays for the Fresno City College women’s soccer team, has been playing soccer since she was eight. Zertuche grew up in Madera and played soccer from elementary through high school.

During Zertuche’s time at Madera South High School, she accumulated an impressive resume and was selected for the first valley soccer team in 2014 and voted the 2015 forward of the year as well as the team captain in the same year.

Zertuche attributes her success in high school to always improving her game in every way possible, and knowing there is always a higher cliff to climb.

“I try to always get better, run faster, strike harder and do everything I can to improve my game,”  said Zertuche. “Because I know once I get up to this level, it is totally different, as the performance level in college is multiplied.”

Her head coach, Oliver Germond, said he saw Zertuche during her time in high school, and felt that she was a talented athlete.

He saw in her a strong forward who possesses strong leadership qualities not seen in many first year athletes.

“She has done well for us; scoring goals and being able to run quickly to the ball as a forward.  She also brings in good leadership role as a freshman, which is always good to have,” Germond said.

“I expect her to have more of a leadership role next season, while bringing the kind of success she has had in high school and translating that here at City as well.”

The women’s soccer team knows that they have a great athlete in Zertuche who is always doing extra things for her team that doesn’t necessarily  show up on the scoreboard.

Second year kicker and team captain, Kristin Thompson, said that Zertuche is a great player who performs well on the field, while setting the tone of how the team should be preparing themselves for games during practices.

“She works really hard during practice and always finishes first during drills, which the rest of the team looks up to,” Thompson said. “I feel that this time next year, she has the potential of being one of the top players in the league.”

Zertuche looks ahead to what comes next in her life, hoping to continue playing soccer for one more year at Fresno City before transferring to an NCAA University.

She wants to play soccer while studying kinesiology in hope of becoming a coach and a physical trainer for other athletes.

“I want to coach and train other players,” Zertuche said, “not just in soccer, but in all athletics to help them get recruited to high levels by training athletes of the future.”