Bison women's soccer head coach Vanessa Martinez-Lagunas has had a knack for recruiting international players during her six years at the helm. It all started in 2014, though, when Brazil native
Bruna Mavignier debuted on the roster.
The then 21-year-old had always watched soccer growing up but never played. Instead, she honed her skills at futsal – a variant of association football that is played on a smaller field and mainly played indoors.
"When I got here, I had no idea what to expect. I was just going to give it a try and see how it went," Mavignier says.
"It was really hard to adapt at first for sure, because futsal is a smaller field, there's less players and you don't have to run for that long, you just sprint basically. So that transition was really hard, but I had so much passion and excitement [for soccer] that it made me play well."
To say the forward performed well in her rookie season would be an understatement. She played and started in 12 regular season games, leading the team in goals with eight and points, with nine.
Mavignier's expectations were high going into the 2015 season, based off the success she had achieved as a rookie. But early in the pre-season she was dealt her first obstacle after suffering an osteitis pubis injury, which is essentially a severe form of tendonitis in the groin.
Mavignier played with the pain for the first six games, tallying a team-leading six goals and eight points. But in the seventh contest, she tore the ACL in her left knee and was done for the year.
After many months of rehab, Mavignier made her return to the pitch for the 2016 season, playing in all 14 games. Unfortunately, she tore her other ACL during the last contest and was yet again forced to recover.
Despite the injury, Mavignier continued to demonstrate her positive personality and outlook.
"Well, there's no other ACL's to tear so hopefully that's it," she says.
Still, the injury bug followed her. She strained her quad in the first practice of the 2017 season and never fully recovered. She missed the whole year, but was able to make it back for nationals, which Manitoba hosted.
Still dealing with lingering injuries, including osteitis pubis, Mavignier decided to head back to Brazil from February to June of this year.
"In Brazil, many male soccer players have [osteitis pubis]," she says. "So that's why I went there, because many people knew how to handle that injury."
Her time back home worked wonders, as the kinesiology graduate returned to the Bisons feeling healthy and confident. The fifth-year player has already made an impact, notching a goal and an assist in the Bisons' opening weekend (and a nod as Female Athlete of the Week), and is looking forward to finishing her university career off in style as a leader both off and off the pitch.
"In past years, I was always the one looking up to other players," she says. "This year, I've got to be the role model and I feel it's making me a better player. When you teach, you learn more and that's how I'm feeling."
