Arriving at Long Beach State as a highly touted recruit, Mimi Rangel quickly established herself as one of the more valuable pieces on the women’s soccer team.
As a freshman last year, Rangel dominated the Big West Conference. In addition to being named the Big West Freshman of the Year, she earned first-team, all-conference honors and was named to the league’s all-freshman team. She led the 49ers with five goals, and with a year of experience under her belt, she’s poised to improve on that figure.
Going into her sophomore season, head coach Mauricio Ingrassia thinks Rangel is ready to take the next step in her development as a player.
“I think she has a lot of confidence right now,” Ingrassia said. “She came in ready to work. She passed her fitness tests. She’s just a year more mature.”
For as impressive as she is on the field, Rangel stands out when in a group, which is saying something considering her diminutive stature. Standing only 5 feet 2 inches tall, Rangel’s confidence is apparent when she speaks. For as talented as she is, she loves talking up her team.
“I think one of our strengths is how unique every player is,” Rangel said. “I think we have a great team, and we mesh really well because of personalities off the field. I don’t think you find stuff like this very often.”
Even when asked what her personal goals are for the season, one of the first things she mentioned was a teammate, though she’s already very familiar with one.
“We have a good freshman class that just came in,” Rangel says. “One of them, her name’s Ashley Gonzalez, I was fortunate enough to play with her for three years in high school. The relationship we had with each other on the field was unbelievable. One goal for sure is to get back the relationship we had on the field and hopefully have us two lea up top and lead the team as best as we can.”
Rangel doesn’t think there’s any one thing she can improve on from last year. She says she wants to be better than she was last year. She says she believes that she must improve mentally before she can improve physically.
“I want to work on my intelligence of the game,” Rangel said. “Really focus on what I can do to help, not myself, but everyone around me, and get everybody glued into the game, and get everybody pumped up, and just be positive no matter what’s going on and just always try and give it my best every single time I step on the field.”