Mariah Meza has always been an integral part of her soccer team, whether playing for her Santa Rosa United club team, Windsor High School or Dominican University.
So it should be no surprise that when Dominican coach Kelly Coffey sent out a group message to the Dominican women’s soccer team that Meza was to be honored at halftime of a January 27 basketball game that he accidentally included her on the message.
Surprise foiled, but that was fine with Meza. “I hate surprises,’’ she said. “If you would have caught me off guard I would have been completely confused and upset.”
The lack of a surprise ceremony was appropriate because Meza herself seldom surprises. Coming out of Windsor High School, college coaches thought she would be a terrific college player and there was certainly no surprise that is exactly what happened.
“She lived up to the billing,’’ Coffey said.
Meza finished her four years at Dominican in the fall as the school’s leading scorer, totaling 19 goals and 10 assists for 48 points. It is a record that figures to stand for quite some time as no one currently on the team has been nearly as accomplished.
“She was obviously an incredible player,’’ said Coffey, who coached Meza her final three years at Dominican. “She was just a natural goal scorer. She could score with her feet, her head. She had two goals last year in the same game with her head off corner kicks.
“When she wasn’t playing well, the team wasn’t playing well. She was super competitive and wanted to win all the time. That fire and that kind of pride she had sort of compelled her to reach all these stats and career things she was able to attain.’’
No doubt Meza was the player the team relied on. In her final three years at Dominican, the Penguins were 9-2-1 when she scored at least one goal, 7-20-6 when she didn’t.
As a result, the honors followed. In addition to the status as the school’s all-time leading scorer, she was twice named PacWest Player of the Week and was a third-team All-PacWest selection as a junior.
And because she is so team-oriented, she had no idea she was approaching the scoring pinnacle at the school last season.
“I was told you are about to break a school record and I was just shocked,” she said. “I wanted to leave my mark on the school somehow. I had some really awesome games and played really well, but being a team captain and leader was really important to me.
“Sometimes in the morning when I was going to class I would think that I have been up for three hours already, running on the field. Being a student athlete and really pushing myself in ways I never thought I could helped me grow and mature as a person.’’
Not only did she leave her mark on the school in terms of records, but also helped establish the Penguins as a competitive team in Division II, a level it reached in 2009.
“We hadn’t had a .500 record since we joined Division II, but we did two years ago (7-7-4) and we equaled our win total last year (7-8-3),’’ Coffey said. “Those are small successes, but definitely she was a big reason for the success we had here.’’
Meza got started in soccer at an early age. A very early age. “She was three days old when she was on a soccer field,’’ said her dad Eliseo, who everyone knows as Junior. “I was coaching at the time. I was on the soccer field, and she was there with Mom (Kristy).’’
Her older brothers Marcus and Stefan and older sister Gabby all played soccer, the same sport their father played at Healdsburg High School. But it turned out the youngest was the best.
She always competed with players older than she was.
“She played in the under-10 level when she was eight, played varsity as a freshman,’’ Junior said. “She has always had older siblings and always wanted to compete with them. She really loves the sport and is very competitive. She has a passion for the sport. She is very ferocious when she goes out there, determined to get that ball in.’’
In high school Meza was first-team all-league for three straight seasons and was named MaxPreps Player of the Year in 2014. She was also the team’s MVP from her sophomore to senior seasons.
Then it was on to Dominican, where after Meza’s freshman year Coffey slid into the head women’s coaching position after a brief stint as an assistant coach for the men’s team.
Coffey had three years to appreciate Meza’s talents. During that time he said there were two games that stood out to him.
“One of them was her junior year against Dixie State and she scored the winner on a flick with her head,’’ he said. “It was a big win on the road against a ranked opponent. That one stood out and that same year we were tied with Academy of Arts and it was a tougher game than we anticipated. She took the team on her back and scored twice to put the game away. It was kind of like she did it all in that one.’’
All of Meza’s successes at Dominican haven’t come on the field. She will graduate this spring and has hopes of going to grad school in her field of psychology.
For the past year she also has served as a residential group counselor for 12 boys at the St. Vincent’s School for Boys.
“They are emotionally disturbed boys who have had traumatic childhoods, abuse, neglect,’’ she said. “It has been extremely rewarding. I try to be a positive role model in their lives and give them that relationship they never had growing up.’’
No doubt there are great things in store for Meza, but her playing days have come to an end. “It is pretty bittersweet,’’ she said. “I have been playing for so long. But I think that chapter is pretty much over. I went as far as I could.’’
She said she has appreciated the support of her family throughout her career. Junior said he and Kristy have seen about 95 percent of her games, missing only the occasional game, including those in Hawaii.
And, after having four children play the game, the Meza family’s run has also come to an end.
“It won’t really take effect until the season starts again, ‘’ Junior said, “and then it will be like, ‘Now what do we do?’ ‘’
