Las Vegas native Nohemi Mendoza has excelled in her freshman year for the College of Southern Nevada.

While UNLV’s two soccer teams are experiencing down years and Las Vegas Lights FC missing the playoffs for a second straight year, there is a soccer team that is thriving in Las Vegas this year and they’re led by a native star. Freshman forward Nohemi “Mimi” Mendoza has been nothing short of unbelievable for the College of Southern Nevada’s women’s soccer team, who carries a record of 10-4-1. In 15 matches this season, she has scored 16 goals and added five assists. “I really focused on my offseason condition because I had taken some time off from competitive soccer. Also, I worked extra hard on my technical training and concentrated on my non-dominant foot. This resulted in a great start to the year,” she explained about her hot start.

#10 Nohemi Mendoza weaving through traffic and finding the back of the net for her second goal of the match. CSN leads 2-0. #FearThePack #PackMentality pic.twitter.com/e0hCXtbflK — CSN_Women's Soccer (@CSN_Wsoc) September 8, 2019

She played her club soccer for Heat FC and was called into the USWNT U-16 camp in 2016. A product of West Prep Academy in Las Vegas, Mimi decided to continue her academic and soccer career at CSN after initially signing a Letter of Intent with UNLV. She said, “I’m very close to my family, so CSN’s proximity to home was a huge factor. Some of my close friends are on the team, so sharing my first collegiate experience with them was an opportunity I just couldn’t pass up. It was an easy and comfortable decision to make.”

The Coyotes will close out their regular season with two home matches at Heritage Park in Henderson, NV, against Colorado Northwestern Community College Thursday night and Utah State University Eastern on Saturday. “We need to stay focused on all the little things that bring us together as a team,” she said about what the club needs to do down the stretch. “Also, we need to continue our positive approach to (this) season and push ourselves to become better everyday. We have it within us to do big things this season and I believe we are going to accomplish or goals.”

When she’s not scoring goals, Mimi spends her free time with her family and friends and seeing the latest horror flicks. For defenses in the Scenic West Conference this season, trying to stop Noheemi Mendoza has been as terrifying as any Halloween movie there is.