MOHAVE COUNTY – Mohave Community College women’s head soccer coach, Cynthia Cervantes, received the national Latino Coaches Award of Excellence from the United Soccer Coaches organization. She received the award Friday, Jan. 13, at the organization’s convention in Philadelphia, which is the largest annual meeting of college soccer coaches in the world.

The award recognizes an individual, organization, group or other entity who has demonstrated amazing accomplishments in the Latin soccer community. Awardees have demonstrated great impact, instilled sportsmanship, teach life skills such as responsibility, teamwork and much more through the game of soccer.

“I’m grateful and humbled to receive this award because this is the starting point for other coaches to be recognized for the great work they are doing,” Coach Cervantes said. “This is a chance to thank God, my family, my mentors and where I’m headed.”

She is an inspirational leader and mentor in the Latino community in her hometown of El Paso, Texas. She joined the Mohave County community in December 2022 when MCC hired her as the head coach for northwestern Arizona’s first collegiate level women’s soccer team.

Coach Cervantes has been coaching for over 10 years professionally. She was the Director of Coaching for Juventus FC in El Paso and an Olympic Development Program coach for New Mexico Youth Soccer.

She earned her master’s degree in Recreation and Sports Science at Ohio University. She earned bachelor’s degrees in Business Administration and Physical Education from Eastern New Mexico University.

Coach Cervantes said she credits her introduction to the game to her father, is grateful for her family’s support and mentors for cheering her on. One of her professional mentors is former United States Women’s National Team star Brandi Chastain, with whom she serves as an assistant coach for the United States Western Region Olympic Development Program. Chastain is a two-time Olympic gold medalist. She won her first one in 1996 and second in 2004.

Prospective student athletes who wish to play collegiate soccer, are encouraged to visit Athletics.Mohave.edu to fill out a recruiting questionnaire. The form can be found under the Men’s and Women’s soccer tab.

The MCC Bighorns Soccer program is also hosting a camp in March to identify soccer players in Mohave County who want to play at the college level. The camp is designed for athletes in 9th grade and older. More information is available on the registration site at MohaveSoccerCamps.com.