Viviana Caamano and Hailey Valente will both continue their soccer careers at Wilmington University in the fall.
For the past eight years, Clearview Regional High School seniors Viviana Caamano and Hailey Valente have gone to school together, hung out together and were two key pieces in Clearview girls soccer’s rebuild the past two seasons.
Now, the two will go to college together. Last Wednesday, Caamano and Valente both signed a National Letter of Intent to play soccer at Division II Wilmington University beginning in the fall.
“We started playing soccer together and we’re going to finish playing soccer together,” Valente said. “You don’t hear that often.”
Caamano and Valente became friends in fifth grade, when the two played for the same team with Highland Youth Soccer Club in Sicklerville. They both continue to play for the same club today, the South Jersey Elite Barons Rush.
“Once we got on the same team, we instantly became friends,” Valente said.
The two quickly developed a rapport, with Valente playing on defense and Caamano at midfield.
“We just work well with each other,” Caamano said. “We know each other basically inside and out on the field. If she needs help, I see it right before it’s about to happen.”
“We both have the same goals and work ethic,” Valente added. “We have the same mentality when it comes to sports.”
Both players played a big part in turning Clearview’s program around. In 2015, the Pioneers suffered a difficult season, finishing with a record of 6–13. The next year, Caamano and Valente helped the Pioneers turn things around with a 12–8 record and the team’s first playoff win since 2010.
Despite all of the previous success, Caamano and Valente’s favorite moment didn’t come until the second-to-last game of their high school careers. In 2017, Clearview, a №8 seed in the South Jersey Group IV tournament, defeated №1 seed Eastern Regional High School in the second round of the playoffs. Eastern was undefeated entering the contest.
Caamano vividly remembers the bus ride back to Clearview after the win.
“Coming home, when we came off the bus, there was a powderpuff practice going on,” Caamano said. “(Head coach Dan Matozzo) had it all planned out before we got on the bus. We came around the back of the school and literally the whole school was there.”
“That’s my favorite memory of my whole entire life, beating Eastern,” Valente added.
Caamano and Valente are both proud of the role they played in making Clearview a winning program again during the past two seasons.
“It was crazy to think we were getting the program back up and getting it together again. Now, it’s the start of a new era,” Caamano said.
Both players are now looking forward to winning more big games at Wilmington University. Caamano and Valente were both recruited by and fell in love with the school and soccer program.
“It’s so tiny,” Caamano said about the school size. “I’m not just going to be a number. I’m going to be a name.”
Valente is looking forward to playing soccer at a high level at Wilmington. The Wildcats were one of the top teams in the Central Athletic Collegiate Conference last year, going 14–6–1 and advancing to the conference championship game.
Valente will be double majoring in psychology and criminal justice at Wilmington and is eyeing a career where she can investigate criminal cases.
“I watch all of those crime shows and I think that stuff is so cool,” she said.
Caamano plans to major in middle-level education and later attend graduate school so she can teach high school math.
“When you’re in the teaching environment, you can still get involved in so many things. I couldn’t pick a job where I could narrow myself to just sitting in an office every day,” Caamano said.
