Ogden Tigers’ Nevaeh Peregrina poses with a soccer ball on the Spence Eccles Ogden Neighborhood Sports activities Complicated in Ogden on Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2022. Peregrina is the Deseret Information Ms. Soccer for 2022. Ben B. Braun, Deseret Information
Ogden’s Nevaeh Peregrina celebrates her purpose towards Morgan within the 3A ladies soccer state championship recreation on Saturday, Oct. 23, 2021 at Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy. Shafkat Anowar, Deseret Information
On a September afternoon in 2021, Ogden Excessive sophomore midfielder Nevaeh Peregrina arrange a nook kick towards her faculty’s rival, Ben Lomond.
She then turned to a gaggle of spectators sitting just a few yards away and requested them if she ought to attempt to rating it herself from that spot. They have been all too completely happy to dare her to do it.
As a substitute of lobbing it towards the purpose field, she inbounded the ball off a teammate, took it again, and fired a long-range missile, which bent mid-air into the purpose, capping a hat trick for on the day.
That stage of confidence and talent aided Peregrina as she hardly missed a beat within the 2022 season, main her to 2022 Deseret Information Ms. Soccer honors as a junior.
“Coming from Ogden, you simply sort of be taught to have that confidence in your self and that swagger,” Peregrina mentioned. “Coming from a Mexican household, there’s loads that it takes. You construct a super-tough pores and skin. Rising up on this setting was one thing that taught me to be extra assured in myself.”
Peregrina scored 19 objectives this season, averaging a purpose per recreation, whereas main an Ogden crew that labored its method again to the 3A state championship recreation for the second straight yr.
As a developmental academy participant at 14, and in a very totally different faculty than her future teammates, it was by no means in Peregrina’s plan to play highschool soccer, for the reason that academy season was additionally within the fall and their guidelines didn't allow gamers to play each.
The COVID-19 pandemic canceled that season in 2020, and Peregrina was and not using a crew to play for within the fall. That’s when Ogden gamers, a few of whom had performed towards her on membership groups, took discover and went to work recruiting her by Snapchat and different social media.
Peregrina ultimately took the supply and suited up for the Tigers, and inside a pair years turned the face of the crew.
“Ogden’s been my residence since I used to be a child,” Peregrina mentioned. “Having the group know who I'm simply from soccer is an superior expertise.”
Having been within the state championship match yearly of highschool, Peregrina is an uber-competitive participant. The Tigers’ loss within the 4A title recreation to Ridgeline her freshman yr didn’t sit nicely along with her in any respect.
“I actually needed a redemption spherical after that and needed a hoop so unhealthy,” Peregrina mentioned. “I’m very, very aggressive, and I wanted to win one thing for us.”
Peregrina made good on her goal when she scored the one purpose of the sport to win the 3A championship over Morgan in 2021.
Exterior of Ogden, Peregrina performs for La Roca Futbol Membership in South Weber, enjoying groups from everywhere in the western United States. She additionally represented the U.S. after her sophomore yr as a member of the U16 Nationwide Staff final spring. That crew received all three of its video games enjoying in Sweden towards Norway, France and Sweden.
Peregrina is dedicated to the College of Portland to play in 2024 after her senior yr. The Pilots are among the finest groups within the West Coast Convention. The chance is particular to her for extra than simply persevering with to play the game. She additionally turns into certainly one of only a few individuals in her household to go to school and can be a first-generation faculty scholar.
“It’s one thing that I’ve all the time needed to do,” Peregrina mentioned. “Coming from a background the place neither of my mother and father went to school, a whole lot of my prolonged household by no means even considered faculty both. Now, being dedicated at 16 years previous … it’s one thing which means a lot to me. I’ve undoubtedly cried about it a whole lot of instances as a result of it’s one thing I’m so happy with. With the ability to enable my mother and father to not must pay for faculty is one thing I’ve all the time labored in the direction of, and I’m glad I used to be capable of accomplish that.”
Peregrina turned certainly one of solely two ladies soccer gamers ever to obtain the Ms. Soccer title whereas enjoying for a classification decrease than 4A, becoming a member of Tigers alum Avery Calton in 2012.
Ogden’s Nevaeh Peregrina celebrates her purpose towards Morgan within the 3A ladies soccer state championship recreation on Saturday, Oct. 23, 2021 at Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy.
Shafkat Anowar, Deseret Information