Vasquez twins headed to San Diego
Courtesy of Andrea Devine
Andrea, left, and America Vasquez-Daza stand with California Miramar University women’s soccer coach Marco Marquez after the Madera South twins signed their letters of intent in front of friends and classmates to play soccer at California Miramar.
When Madera South graduate Andrea Vasquez-Daza was thinking about what school to head to, she wanted her twin sister, American in on the opportunity.
“I was talking to this coach. I told them I was ready to commit,” Andrea said. “Then, I told him about my twin sister. I told him we’ve played our entire life. I told him I wasn’t going to commit until you get my twin sister. He said we’ll get her. That’s how that went.”
American Vasquez-Daza was set to head to a community college when her sister came in with an offer to go with her.
“My twin sister found the school,” American said. “I was just planning on going to community college. She told them she wouldn’t sign unless her twin sister signed. When they wanted to sign both of us, I was so excited. When we play together, we go aggressive on each other.”
The sisters will attend California Miramar University based in San Diego with the athletics playing in Los Angeles. Both will major in business and try to follow in the footsteps of their brother, Abraham Vasquez, and cousin, David Vasquez, who are playing soccer at Simpson University in Northern California.
Andrea Vasquez-Daza
For both the twins, it would have been tough not to play with each other. They have been playing with each other since they could start playing organized soccer at eight-years-old.
“We grew up together playing our entire life together,” she said. “We know how we play. We know if we don’t have our game, we’ll tell each other to step up their game. We know each other like that.”
She also knows it’s an opportunity to keep playing and it’s a special thing to have four members of a family playing sports in college at the same time.
“That’s so cool and crazy to keep up the Vasquez legacy of playing soccer. All four of us are going to play college ball. I’m happy about it. We’re all excited,” Andrea said.
Vasquez, who plays forward, had a few schools looking at her, but California Miramar was the only one in the state that gave her serious consideration.
“I had a really great school from Missouri, a good school from Portland and schools from Europe,” she said. “All of the coaches told me to keep up with them so I have all their phone numbers.”
She chose California Miramar because of what they can offer during school and after their careers are over.
“I chose this school because they have a good program for business,” she said. “I even asked the coach if they have other teams to play with after we get done with school. He said he knows the coaches in Mexico to play after college. I told him let’s take it one step at a time. That’s how we started talking.”
The twins were so important to get signed that the coach made a trip to Madera to watch the sisters sign their letter of intent. Ironically, it was also the first time they met in person
“That was crazy,” Andrea said. “He wanted us to go down there to sign. I told him I wanted him to come here. We were so shocked he came to our signing. He wanted to meet us. We were talking on the phone, but never met. It feels really good to sign. I can’t wait. I’m excited for the next chapter in life.”
Andrea is a 4.0 grade point average student and plans to major in business marketing.
“I want to continue what Abraham has started. The coach told us he has jobs for us after graduation,” she said.
“It’s so awesome. We can’t wait. We’re excited to go,” she said.
America Vasquez-Daza
Although thinking she would stay local and attend a community college while playing soccer, Madera South’s America Vasquez-Daza didn’t hesitate at the opportunity to play with her sister in college.
“She told me why go to community when you’re worthy of playing at a four-year university. She told me to challenge myself to be a better play. I said I was down with it,” America said.
By playing together for many years, the twins know how each of them play and also know what buttons to push to get them to play better.
“We just challenge each other so much,” she said. “That’s what so great about us going together. We’re going to be there for each other. We want both of us to be successful. It’s pretty exciting.”
America had other schools offering her, but she was resigned to stay local. But, Andrea had other plans.
“She wanted me to come with her,” America said. “She said I was such a great player. I was captain this year and won the most valuable player award for the team.”
American, who was a member of the All-Madera Tribune team and a County/Metro Athletic Conference Honorable Mention, said it would have been weird to play soccer without her sister.
“We’ve always played with each other,” she said. “She didn’t want me to go to community and wanted me to go with her. Shen I told her I was gong to sign, she got so excited. We’re going to continue to play and challenge together. We’re going to go through these obstacles together. It’s pretty exciting.”
America, a defender, is excited about California Miramar for the same reason as her sister — it’s a good business school.
“My brother has his own business (Come Up Kickz). I saw the way that was running and I want to be a part of that,” she said. “That’s why I want to go into business. It was also a great opportunity with a great program. That changed my mind.”
She plans to major in business and marketing.
“I want to be an entrepreneur like my brother or work for a big business like Google or Microsoft,” she said. “Not only did they have a good business program, but the coach talked to us about wanting to play more, he will try to play professional and get onto teams. He said he wants to give us more opportunities to play after. That’s what I really liked.”
