Lady Ranger soccer star graduates to greener fields
by Misty Volaski

Just seconds are left in the final game of the season. The score is tied. The spectators are fanatic, and the other team's fullbacks are bearing down on you. You've got the ball - and the last shot of the game.
Pressure? Nah. For soccer players like senior Alicia Cattoni, moments like these are what the game's all about. It's why Alicia has been playing since she was 5. It's what drove Alicia to play all these years.
And her passion for the game is obvious to anyone who has ever watched a Nordhoff girls' soccer game. As a Nordhoff's co-captain of the varsity soccer squad, she was named First Team, All-Frontier League this year, and was named to the second team last year.
The two-time defensive player of the year finished her fourth season with the Lady Rangers this year and helped her team place first in league for the fourth year in a row. Alicia's athletic accomplishments and positive attitude have landed her a spot on the cafeteria wall as part of Nordhoff's elite Hall of Fame.
But Alicia is much more than an athlete. She is currently finishing up a video productions class at Nordhoff, and is already making herself known as a director in the valley, entering her films in local festivals and working on the Ojai Film Festival since its creation three years ago.
Her biggest accomplishment as a director, she said, was when she wrote, directed and produced a youth film called "Truth." Not only was she able to work with friends on her very own project, but she was also presented with two of the most prestigious awards that the Ojai Film Festival bestows upon movies: Best Narrative and Best Editing. "That was great because I wrote and directed and produced 'Truth,' and those are basically the biggest awards."
Alicia will further her dream this fall when she attends Brooks Institue of Photography at the new Ventura campus. She plans to study the direction and/or production of motion pictures.
"It would be cool to be a director," Alicia said, "just not of documentaries!" She once did a documentary in her video productions class and found she didn't like the style. "I like things to be organized," she said.

© 2002 The Ojai Valley News

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