Julieann Challacombe
Home is somewhere you can be yourself. You can sit back, relax and everything is just easy. Though football isn’t easy in any sense of the word, Solina Pascual views the Renegades as a home away from home.
Walking from the parking lot at Harry Della Russo Stadium, and down the path along the field, Pascual can see her teammates getting ready for practice in the distance.
As she moves closer and enters the defensive locker room, she’s embraced by a warm feeling. She feels happy; she feels home.
“I feel like I was born to be on that field and play football,” said Pascual. “This sport feels like home to me.”
Across the way, about 30 ft or so, sits a slice of her real home. Her older sister, Stephanie “PB” Pascual, a wide receiver of seven years and captain of three. Solina was shown the wonders of women’s football first through a flag team by PB and their other sister “Jelly”. Tune in later this season for that story.
Pascual recalls PB coaxing her to join the team saying “you don’t know what you’re missing out on.” She thought flag football was all she needed, but didn’t know there was a hole in her heart that only the Renegades could fill until she stepped on the field.
“I waited all that time to join for what?” Pascual said with a laugh. “I couldn’t believe how much I missed out on.”
Pascual gives a lot of credit to her older sister PB for teaching her how to work hard and, most importantly, love the game. She’s watched her be a captain the last three years, and now gets to join her in leading the team.
“To play alongside my sister and now be a captain with my sister, it speaks volumes to what she’s taught me,” said Pascual. “Playing with her is my favorite thing about playing football.”
The Leadership Pascual wants to carry with her, she says, she’s learned from both her sisters and her mentor Christina Riggieri. A recently retired linebacker and captain of the 2023 Renegades championship team.
Right away, Pascual admired Riggieri’s top tier football IQ and leadership. For the next three years Pascual would absorb everything Riggieri would teach her like a sponge. As it turns out, Pascual was on to something.
She was able to take everything she’s learned and turn it into 55 total tackles, including eight tackles for a loss, and 2 sacks in the 2023 championship season. Her best performance yet.
“Riggs took my skills to the next level, without her I would have never fully learned my position,” said Pascual. “She led by example, and made her team of linebackers better, I want to do the exact same thing.”
Now, as she finds herself in a grander position of leadership, Pascual plans to use those lessons as weapons to help her team excel this season.
She doesn’t take it lightly that she’s been put into this position, she says, and will stop at nothing to prove they made the right decision.
“It’s a huge honor to step into this role,” said Pascual. “I’m grateful that my teammates have given me this opportunity.”
As for this season, Pascual is heavy on showing the world that the Renegades have “the best defense in the league.” She wants to build a formidable palisade in the form of linebackers no one could stand a chance against.
“I’m just ready to go and show people what the Boston Renegades defense can do,” said Pascual. “We’re going to get pick sixes, we’re going to force three and outs, we’re going to ball the freak out.” Except she didn’t say freak.