Benefield: Santa Rosa high school grad Cindy Arteaga makes leap to professional soccer ranks in Mexico

Cindy Arteaga can’t count the number of times she has stepped onto the soccer field in her 22 years.

But never had it felt like it did on Saturday.

“I was super frantic. The crowd was crazy,” she said.

The crowd, some 5,000 people strong, were chanting and singing, urging their Pumas on.

Arteaga, a starter on almost every team she’s ever played for, had started this game on the bench.

But in the 80th minute of the league opener against crosstown rival, América, her number, 11, was called. She was going in. She was now a professional soccer player, making her debut with Pumas UNAM Femenil in Mexico City.

“I got goose bumps. I was trying not to cry,” she said. “I felt so sick. I felt so nervous, so many emotions. It was a moment for myself, ‘I’m here. I made it.’”

It’s been a bit of unplanned journey Arteaga has taken to signing a professional contract with one of the top 18 squads in Mexico.

But for anyone who has seen Arteaga ply her trade on the soccer field, her rise to this moment is not unexpected.

In her final high school season with the Montgomery Vikings in 2019, one in which she scored 25 goals and had 11 assists, she was named North Coast Section senior of the year. She was also the North Bay League’s offensive MVP.

Next up was suiting up for the Matadors of CSU Northridge where she was an impact player and starter — predominantly as a striker — from her freshman year forward.

In her final season last fall, she was a All-Big West first team pick and a third team All-West Regional selection. Twice she was Big West Offensive Player of the Week. She finished second in the conference in goals scored and points.

At the close of her college career, she was invited to a pro combine with scouts and coaches representing Mexico’s top squads.

But it didn’t lead to anything.

Well, one team offered her a contract immediately, but she was trying to finish out her degree in criminal justice. She said no.

“I had four months left to get my diploma and I’m the first to graduate in my family,” she said. “If the team wanted me, I feel like they would have waited and worked something out.”

Nothing was worked out.

So her soccer life went quiet for the first time in her life.

“I think I was definitely confused,” she said. “It was one of the weirdest times. I felt like, ‘What am I doing? I’m not an athlete anymore.’ Our lives revolve around it. It was a hard adjustment, not to wake up and go do that routine. I didn’t like it.”

Come April, she suited up for the Matadors’ alumni game.

“Seeing everyone — I knew I wasn’t ready to be done,” she said.

But she was still in some kind of limbo.

She was playing pickup games with her boyfriend. She trained a bit with the Matadors. She was fairly fit, her touch was good.

And on May 20 she received her long-sought diploma.

Then, a month later, the phone rang.

“I hadn’t heard anything from the combine,” she said. “I was like, ‘What’s going on?’ They said, ‘Hey can you come tryout this upcoming week?’”

The team on the other end of the line was Pumas UNAM Femenil, based in Mexico City — one of Liga Mexico’s top 18 pro squads.

She told them she could try out, she did, and she killed it.

Team officials asked her to cancel her flight home.

“When they told me to stay, I was like ‘Oh my god.’ I was so overwhelmed,” she said. “It happened so fast. I was crying and crying, ‘What the hell do I do?’”

It wasn’t the soccer or the level of play or the prospects of signing a pro deal, that unnerved her. On the field, she felt comfortable, capable, ready.

It was the litany of life decisions that had her in knots.

“It was everything. I wasn’t going to see my family for six months,” she said. “I’m in a different country. Everything is so new. It’s hard to get used to … it was where am I going to stay? How am I going to get to practice?”

Arteaga’s parents, Gonzalo and Hortencia, had traveled to Mexico City for the tryout, so when Cindy decided to stay, they delayed their departure. They helped her get a condo close to the stadium. They got her moved in. They got her settled, physically and emotionally.

“They didn’t want to leave me until I found a place,” she said.

And Arteaga started to get into her groove almost immediately.

“From the beginning, the first thing I noticed was how welcoming they were, even with my parents,” she said of her team.

And on the field, it’s the same thing.

“Just the range of ages — the ones in my position are 10 years older than I am. I get to see them as role models,” she said. “They are always helping me out, ‘You gotta be here,’ or ‘This is what they are looking for, this is what we are trying to do,’ just keeping me in the loop.”

Outside of soccer, she’s making her way too.

Those concerns about how she’ll get to practice? She’s got teammates living in her condo complex that give her a lift.

Arteaga speaks Spanish, so communication is easy.

But there are some things she misses about living in Southern California.

Chick-fil-A for one. And Starbucks.

“Matcha with oat milk. I’m going through withdrawals,” she said.

But she’s playing soccer and feeling confident about her future.

“I’m already adapting to it,” she said of the Pumas’ style of play. “I think maybe in a few games when I get a little more confident I could potentially make it to the first team. I definitely do have to get more comfortable and stuff.”

And part of feeling comfortable is knowing what she wants.

And that’s to keep playing soccer at the highest level possible — within reason.

Mexico is the farthest she wants to go to play. She has no interest in playing in Europe.

“I think I’m used to being away from my family, but I don’t think I want to,” she said.

“I just want to play as long as I can,” she said. “As long as my gives me. I feel healthy. I feel good. I hope it stays that way.”

You can reach Staff Columnist Kerry Benefield at 707-526-8671 or kerry.benefield@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @benefield.