When Angelina Vargas ’27 was 16 years old, she received a direct message on social media from the Dominican Republic women’s national football team. She showed her parents, figuring it was “probably a scam.” But after Vargas realized the message was legitimate, she laced up her cleats and joined the team. She’s played with them ever since.
Now, the women’s national team is competing in the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football Women’s Qualifiers tournament with the hopes of participating in the championship tournament to qualify for the FIFA Women’s World Cup next year.
For Vargas, whose grandparents are from the Dominican Republic, playing for the country’s national team has been an opportunity to connect with her family.
“It really unites all my family,” she said. “It’s just so cool to see my grandparents at the games.”
Vargas explained that being on the team consists of participating in camps where the group comes together to practice and compete. At camp, “you practice for a week with the team, and then you play” against another country, she explained.
At her first camp, Vargas did not expect to play. “I was the youngest on the team at the time,” she recalled. When Vargas went in, she said she scored within 20 seconds of being on the field.
“I just remember blacking out,” Vargas said, “like I couldn't even see.” But she remembers the blow horns and loud cheering from fans.
The Dominican Republic’s next game is against Haiti on April 17. “There's always been a rivalry between us” since the two countries share an island, Vargas said. “It's going to be a dirty game.”
Vargas has played soccer since she was five years old. Growing up, there was no girls’ team in her New Jersey hometown, so she played with the boys’ team. She said parents of her male teammates would complain that she was “too aggressive.”
Her dad noticed her skills from a young age and encouraged her soccer career, Vargas said. She began playing for a club team at age 11 and continued until she arrived at Brown.
Kia McNeill, the Brown women’s soccer head coach, affirmed Vargas’s discipline on and off the field.
“She does a great job balancing the demand of being a D1 athlete and top-tier student — she gives 100% to both,” McNeill wrote in an email to The Herald. “She is one of the hardest workers on our team, and she is someone who cares deeply about our success.”
Although Vargas is interning abroad this semester, McNeill emphasized that she has remained “engaged and involved with the team.”
Chesney Robinson ’28, Vargas’s teammate, described her as a “really fit (and) super technical” player. Robinson noted that while Vargas is competitive on the field, she is “really sweet” and “easy to talk to” off the pitch, often inviting teammates to her dorm.
“It’s definitely a balance” and “super busy” being a student athlete, Vargas said. “But I like it that way, because I don’t know what I would do with all my time. And soccer is my passion.”
She added that representing the Dominican Republic has given her the opportunity to play with, learn from and compete against athletes who have been on the field for decades — and even get photos with her childhood idols like Alex Morgan.
“I'm living out my dream,” Vargas said.
Rebecca Goodman is a university news senior staff writer covering career and alumni. She is a junior from Cambridge, MA, studying English. Outside of writing, you can find her at the Avon or in the basement of the Rock.
