Her name is Mayensy Vargas and she’s definitely the best kept secret in Hudson County sports.
The Memorial High School junior has been a goal-scoring machine for the Tigers girls’ soccer team, tallying goals at an astounding rate.
Just how much? Well, Vargas recently eclipsed the 100-goal mark for her three-year career and she didn’t stop there, scoring nine more times to push the career mark to an incredible 109.
Vargas has found the back of the net an incredible 29 times this season – and there still are several games left this year, including the Tigers’ semifinal showdown with Harrison in the Hudson County Tournament this weekend.
Vargas’ story began in her native El Salvador, where she started playing soccer at the tender age of 3.
“When I was 3 years old, my Dad bought me a pair of cleats,” Vargas said. “He was a soccer player and he would take me to his games. I just started kicking the ball and it started from there. I guess I was kicking the ball when I started walking.”
Vargas grew up playing with her older brother in the streets of El Salvador. The family moved to West New York when Mayensy was 12, then moved to Maryland for a stint, where she played youth soccer, then returned to West New York right before Mayensy enrolled at Memorial.
“When I came back to West New York, I started to play for a travel team,” Vargas said. “But they had heard of me already, so it was easy for me to come back.”
Vargas was a member of the Memorial varsity for the last two years, before Lois Johanssen took over as head coach.
Johanssen was the head coach at Belleville High School for four years, then took time off from coaching to tend to her ill father, who eventually passed away.
Johanssen, who is an elementary school teacher in West New York, decided to return to coaching when the position opened after last season.
“It worked out perfectly, because I wanted to get back into it,” Johanssen said.
She had heard stories about Vargas, but didn’t realize how talented the junior was before Johanssen saw Vargas firsthand.
“I heard stories about how skilled she was,” Johanssen said. “But when I saw her, it was like, ‘Oh, my God.’ She’s in a different league than everyone else. Her skills are unbelievable. Her ball control is phenomenal. Her drive on the field, her focus. She’s just unbelievable and amazing. I never had a player like this. She’s the type of player that I basically always wanted to coach.”
Mayensy scored two goals in the Tigers’ upset win over Bayonne last weekend to reach the county semifinals.
“She’s definitely our driving force,” Johanssen said. “She gets the ball and looks for others to get the opportunity to score. Sometimes, she has to take the ball all the way in to shoot. But she’s constantly distributing, looking for her teammates. She also drops back from the midfield to help the defense. She’s just amazing.”
Vargas said that she’s very proud of her achievements.
“But I still think I can do better,” Vargas said. “I just want to help us to keep winning. That’s all that matters and all I care about.”
Vargas said that she wasn’t bothered that she has completely flown under the radar, despite scoring more than 100 goals in her career.
“That’s really not a big deal to me,” Vargas said. “When I think about it, it’s a lot of goals. It’s amazing to me that I got this far. I just want to keep trying to score more.”
It’s scary to think how many more goals Vargas can score with another season to go. She’s certainly on the statewide map now and should be recognized as one of the best goal scorers in Hudson County history, among both boys and girls. Now, she will definitely be known…
Say a prayer for one of Jersey City’s true nice guys, Bill Mauer, who is under the weather these days. Maurer, a Jersey City employee for more than 40 years, has been a respected baseball umpire for ages, especially on the Little League level, where he was selected to umpire at the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa. a few years ago.
Bill is also a respected high school baseball and softball umpire. He’s so beloved and well known throughout the Hudson County baseball and softball circles. He is so worthy of our prayers and support, so please get well, Bill…
The mass exodus from the St. Peter’s Prep basketball team is now complete, as Veer Singh, the Hudson Reporter All-Area honoree from last March, has decided to transfer from the school, joining six of his teammates from last year’s team that won the state sectional championship and played for the overall Non-Public A state title last winter.
It was thought that the top seven players from that championship team would contend for state and county honors again this season, but that’s history, as head coach Todd Decker resigned and the top seven players all left.
New head coach Alex Mirabel will now have to definitely start from scratch. It’s astounding to think that all of those players could leave Grand and Warren at the same time…
One of the players from the Marauders’ county finalist last season, promising center Kaleb Bishop, is now at St. Anthony…
Condolences to the Savino family, namely University of Cincinnati assistant basketball coach Darren and Jersey City Fire Department member Justin, on the passing of their mother, Carol, last week. Both Savino brothers were standout athletes during their heyday, Darren at St. Anthony and Justin at Marist, with their mother as their biggest fan. Carol Savino had a wonderful sendoff at Our Lady of Mercy in Jersey City, with the immortal Rev. Lawrence Miller presiding over the Mass…
Former Athlete of the Week Ricardo Azucar of Memorial continued his fine season by motoring for 243 yards on 22 carries and four touchdowns against Kearny, leading the local grid performance list.
Union City’s Jonathan Castellano was next with 180 yards on just nine carries and a touchdown. Paris Crawford of Bayonne followed with 157 yards, with Josh Mercado of Hoboken next with 112 yards and Eli Terry of St. Anthony closing out the century club with 107 yards in the loss to Lincoln…
Hudson Reporter H.S. Football Top Five: 1. St. Peter’s Prep (4-1). 2. Union City (4-1). 3. North Bergen (4-1). 4. Hoboken (4-1). 5. Lincoln (4-1)….
Hudson Reporter H.S. Soccer Top Five: 1. St. Peter’s Prep (10-2-1). 2. North Bergen (8-3-1). 4. Dickinson (9-2-1). 4. Memorial (6-5). 5. Union City (6-7-1). – Jim Hague
Jim Hague can be reached at OGSMAR@aol.com.