Home Goal Brings Out the Best in Viloria

Among the rustic surroundings of Shawn Viloria’s front yard are two horses, two dogs, two cats, five chickens, a rabbitt and a sheep named Calamity Jane. There also is a lone soccer goal post, complete with net.

The goal, erected three years ago by Viloria’s father, was built so Viloria, a junior at El Toro High School, could work on her shot without having to make the long drive “downtown.”

“Downtown,” Viloria said, is how those in this small canyon community describe El Toro and its citified neighbors.

But the soccer goal also had another purpose. Don Viloria built it on the condition that his talented but somewhat timid daughter would try out for the U.S. Youth Soccer Assn. district team, which is made up of some of the best club players in Orange County.

“I was really, really scared to try out, but my dad said he wouldn’t build (the goal) unless I did,” Shawn Viloria said. She tried out, made the squad, and her confidence--boosted weeks later by selections to several state-level junior teams--has been growing steadily since.

Today, Viloria is a three-year starter for El Toro, which plays two of its toughest South Coast League opponents this week.

Tuesday, the Chargers (12-2 overall) play host to Dana Hills (12-1-1). Thursday, the Chargers play host to Mission Viejo. Both matches begin at 3:15 p.m.

Viloria, a center halfback who leads her team this season with 21 goals and 10 assists, is considered one of the top offensive players in the county.

During last month’s Irvine tournament, Viloria scored 11 goals in four matches. Dana Hills defeated El Toro in the final, 2-1.

Last week, Viloria and her younger sister, Paige, a freshman defender, scored in El Toro’s 2-1 victory over Agoura, the three-time 2-A champion. That victory ended Agoura’s national record unbeaten string at 91 matches.

In the South Coast League, considered by most to be the toughest league in the Southern Section 4-A, Viloria is sometimes compared to former Mission Viejo star Julie Foudy, a three-time Times’ Orange County girls’ soccer player of the year who now plays for Stanford.

Although most agree that Viloria is not the complete player Foudy was in high school, her offensive skills and instincts come close.

“She has the same basic skills, the same leadership abilities,” El Toro Coach Bob Chavez said. “Her knowledge of the game is real good. Her soccer skills are incredible. She can bring down a ball that’s been kicked 50 feet in the air, and she’s got very good instincts.

“But Shawn’s supporting cast hasn’t been what Foudy had. This year, it’s much better.”

Viloria, though, grimaces at any comparison between she and Foudy.

“I don’t like to be compared to her,” Viloria said. “I mean, it’s an honor, yeah. But she’s awesome. She’s the queen of soccer. I’m a different person. I don’t want people to expect me to be like her or anything.”

Viloria, who moved with her family to Modjeska Canyon from Mission Viejo 10 years ago, started playing soccer when she was in kindergarten. She and a male classmate would take a ball out every recess, without any encouragement from others. Despite the fact that the Vilorias live in the Orange Unified School District, Shawn chose to transfer to El Toro High instead of attending El Modena.

“It was incredible, really,” her father said. “These two kids played soccer every day, one on one. Shawn started developing her ball skills right away. I don’t know what ever happened to that boy, but he was a godsend for her at the time.”

By the time the Vilorias moved to Modjeska Canyon, Shawn already was a youth soccer star. In second grade, she scored 45 of her team’s 46 goals that season.

She improved each year, playing twice weekly for club teams in Mission Viejo. On the days she stayed at home, she’d practice with her younger sister and brother and any neighborhood kids that happened by.

Many times, though, she would just kick around by herself, in the shade of the large oak and olive trees that surround her yard.

“I wasn’t into playing Barbie (dolls) or anything else,” Viloria said.

“She lives and breathes this game--she always has,” Chavez said. “She played volleyball and softball as a freshman, but it was too slow for her. She plays soccer year-round. She’s never missed a game, not even when she’s sick. I don’t think she hardly ever takes a break.”

Viloria agreed. “Sometimes I get sick of (soccer), but then I can’t put a ball down,” she said. “Sometimes I think I need a break, but it’s like I have a habit. I need to go out and kick a ball. It’s what I do.”