KOBINSKI EARNS BIG WEST HONORS

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By Patrick Lujan

Cici Kobinski, with roots from Santa Rita, was named the Big West Conference Midfielder of the Year for the Cal-Poly Mustangs. (courtesy photo)

Her bloodline reads baseball but her playing field is just as green as the diamond.

Cici Kobinski has taken the athletic genes of the Alvarez family and displayed such athleticism on the soccer field, earning All-Big West Conference first team honors two years in a row with the Cal-Poly Mustangs.

The 5-foot-2 forward was also named the conference’s Midfielder of the Year. Not bad for a young woman who most Guam sports fans would relate to as being the first cousin of baseball standouts Pat and Dale Alvarez from Santa Rita.

“I was really surprised because it’s a big honor,” Kobinski said about the MOY award. “I thought it would go to one of the first place teams because we finished third in the league.”

The youngest of four children to Richard and Jackie Alvarez Kobinski, Cici started playing soccer when she was 11-years-old and realized her skill level was above the average kids around her sophomore year in high school.

Kobinski even had her image on the Cal-Poly poster outside the stadium with her family support below. (courtesy photo)

Born and raised in Santa Clara, California, Kobinski finally made her way to Guam in 2010 to experience the roots of her mother’s upbringing in Santa Rita.

“I always wanted to go to Guam,” she said. “I got to see where my mom went to elementary school and high school and where my grandma lives. We went to the carnivals and a lot of the beaches and ate a lot of fruit. I loved the fruit out there.”

Her grandmother is Isabel Alvarez Siguenza of Santa Rita.

Kobinski is well aware of the baseball lineage in the Alvarez family as her mother Jackie always preached about how big the sport is for the family.

Kobinski gave softball a try growing up but said, “It wasn’t as exciting as soccer. It wasn’t for me. I wasn’t the best at hand-eye (coordination).”

As for her aspirations to turn pro, it’s more like turning professional using her college degree.

“I’m done playing soccer collegiately, I want to end on the note that I’m ending on, playing in front of the community that has been very supportive.”

She will be graduating next summer with a biology major and Spanish minor before eventually reaching her goal as a physician assistant.

As for possibly playing for Guam’s women’s national team?

Kobinski is surrounded by her supporting family during senior day on Oct 28. L-R: Auntie Betty-Ann Wright, Mom-Jackie Kobinski, Dad-Richard Kobinski, Cic, and Auntie Jennifer Gomez (courtesy photo)

“I went to some of the practices while I was there and it was fun. That would be really fun to do. The girls I was playing with were really nice.”

Now that her college playing days just ended, the big question is what to do with the giant sign of her image outside Cal-Poly’s Alex G. Spanos Stadium.

Notes: Kobinski (Santa Clara, Calif./Cupertino HS) dominated the midfield, starting all 18 contests her senior season and scoring four goals with seven assists, for a total 15 points.   She was second for the Mustangs in minutes played this season (1,584) and started every game the last three seasons for the Mustangs, while only missing one contest in her complete career in the Big West in her freshman season.   The two-time All-Big West first team midfielder ended her four seasons as a Mustang with career totals of seven goals, 10 assists and 24 points. (source: Big West Conference)…Her favorite player is Messi because of his ability to create his own opportunities and his great field vision…Jackie Kobinski moved to California in 1982 for a job opportunity. She met Richard Kobinski at a work-related function – at least that’s what they told Cici!

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