Tippecanoe Valley’s Alyssa Brito is set to captain the boys soccer team for a second straight season. Standing with their captain (from left to right) are fellow captain Fabian Mar, Seth Baird, Drew Hartman and third captain Alan Jimenez. (Photo by Mike Deak)

AKRON – A season ago, Alyssa Brito quietly made her way through the first-ever soccer season at Tippecanoe Valley. The soft-spoken wing player carried the captain’s armband with pride, but felt like more could be done. As her senior season approaches, Brito feels like her presence should be more known.

Brito comes into the 2017 soccer season wearing the captain’s armband for the second straight year, not an unprecedented occurrence in soccer, but slightly so considering Brito is captaining the boys soccer program. Without a girls outfit at Tippecanoe Valley, Brito and a handful of other girls are playing up with the boys. Her leadership and acumen earned her the right to lead in 2016 as the Viking ship set sail. One of five main seniors returning and the continued leadership into this year puts her back in position, as voted on by coach Mark Gordon and her teammates.

“I started with this club when it first began, so I’m not new to the players here,” Brito said, donning her captain’s armband during team media day. “I think the boys that have started with me have respect for me. I play like one of the boys and that’s what gets the most respect from them. I don’t think about it as a girls versus boys thing.”

Brito didn’t light up the stat sheet as a junior, assisting on just one goal in her 17 matches. But her play on the defensive wing helped stabilize a rookie roster, and her presence slowly shifted forward as the year progressed. As a senior, Brito anticipates moving up into the offense more, letting her play speak to more of her captainship.

“Skills-wise, she would be a heckuva player at any school in the area, she is that talented,” Gordon said of Brito. “She has a personality that is very likable, but at the same time she has the ability to speak up when it’s necessary. When we gave her the armband last year, there was a quality where she always gave 100 percent. She has that ability. She wants to get better. And I think in a co-ed situation, that is very important. I don’t want someone to focus on just half the responsibility. I want someone I can count on.”

Added Brito, “I played defense a lot last year, but felt a little out of place and asked to be moved to mid, where I felt like I did a lot better. I’ve really worked in conditioning to build endurance to keep up with some of the times the boys are putting up in the two-mile and some of the sprints. I feel like I am close enough to them, and that’s where I need to be if I want to keep up on a boys team playing against boys.”

Valley looks to build upon its 4-12-1 inaugural campaign from a season ago, and will do so with some key returners. Senior Fabian Mar was an All-Conference goalkeeper for the Vikings, posting a shutout and 182 saves in 17 matches, earning credit for all four victories. Mar will also get into the field some this year, allowing classmate Seth Baird some time between the pipes.

Junior Manny Dominguez will go down in Valley soccer history as scoring the program’s first-ever goal, and will be asked to score a lot more this season. Dominguez and senior Alan Jimenez are the leading scorers to return, but both only with a pair of goals. Gordon noted Spanish senior exchange student Xabier Armentia could impact the club right away.

“First of all, it doesn’t really matter to us if you are a boy or girl, if you know how to play, then you know how to play,” Mar said referring to Brito’s status with the club. “You have to have confidence in your teammates, regardless. They are part of the makeup of this team, and they have a talent to be out here. She plays aggressively, and her attitude is something that helps her. I don’t really think about her being a girl once we start playing. She’s just one of us.”

Valley will open at home this season with a match Thursday, Aug. 17, against NorthWood.