Samantha Belardo was a Mustang from 2018 – 2021. She participated on the women’s soccer and softball teams while earning an Associates degree in Criminal Justice and an Advanced Certificate in Police Operations. After graduating in 2019, Samantha joined the Army reserves as a military police officer. When she came home from basic training and AIT she decided she wasn’t done playing. She decided to play in the fall season 2021 before finishing her certificate that semester.
What attracted her to CMCC was how small it was in terms of class sizes. Her high school was small so she was used to that close-knit relationship with professors and classmates. Samantha transferred to CMCC after 1 semester at Western New England University because she felt like she wasn’t supposed to be there. Coach Rob, women’s soccer, found her on a recruiting website and had also tried to recruit her out of high school. Part of her transferring to CM was because she missed playing soccer and she knew that CM would provide her with that opportunity.
While playing soccer for the Mustangs Samantha was a 3x All-Conference, 2x All-American, 3x USCAA Player of the Week, All-Decade team member, 2019 Female Student-Athlete of the Year, 2021 team captain, and the leading scorer for the women’s soccer program. Her favorite memory is finally beating NHTI in the semi-finals in 2019 and being able to play in the YSCC Championship game. She also remembers when the team finally beat SMCC at home in 2021 and scoring against a hattrick against them.
Samantha credits Coach Rob as the person who had the most influence on her during time at CMCC. Coach never gave up on her. After missing the first game of the season 2 years in a row due to injury, he knew she would be able to bounce back and be the best she could. He always pushed her to be the best she could on and off the field which is so important! One of the biggest impacts he had is that he really treated his players like his own, not like we were just the women was coaching, but like we were his family.
She states, "CMCC really is a big family. At every game, you have students, faculty members and families there to support you. I’m thankful for CM because it brought me the best friends that I have now!"
We thank Samantha for her service and hope she can come back to visit soon!