Splitting time

San Diego 'keeper now calls three places home

Jaime Pagliarulo wishes she could get her hands on some chocolate. Todd Warshaw/Allsport

Are you staying in San Diego during the off-season?

No, I'm staying in Laguna Beach. It's about an hour north. I'm living with a family that I know. They're putting me up for free so it's great. During the season I was living in an apartment in San Diego. I made frequent trips to Laguna Beach though. This way is nice because I save gas money. I love it here.

Does the family you're staying with have children?

They have four kids. They have two ninth-grade girls, a sixth-grade boy and a fourth-grade boy. They all play soccer and they had a fan club that would come down to the games to support us. It was great.

How did you meet them?

Teaching elementary school in Virginia. The mom of one of the families there that I knew was best friends with the family that I'm staying with. Initially she gave them my e-mail and said take her out to lunch or something and then we met and we hit it off and I started making trips up to Laguna Beach weekly and then I ended up moving in.

Are your teammates staying in San Diego for the off-season?

A lot of them went home but a good bunch of them live between San Diego and L.A., which takes about two hours to get to. They're everywhere in between so we'll have plenty of opportunities to get together and train or hang out.

What are your plans this winter?

We have our off-season commitments with appearances to do and then we have a mini-camp. I'll maybe do some coaching and clinics up in the Laguna area. Other than that I'll be staying out here and training. Initially I thought I was going to go home when the season was over but that was before I met this family. Now that I'm living here I'll be able to afford a couple of trips back home. Other than that I don't have any plans and it's kind of nice to have no commitments and no plans.

Where is home?

When I'm back home I'll split my time between Virginia and Pennsylvania. My family is in Hershey, Pennsylvania but I've been living in Virginia since my freshman year in college at George Mason. That's where my friends are so I'll be able to train with some of my old George Mason teammates and coaches.

Your father works for Hershey, right?

Hershey is a part of my whole family's life. My dad works for HERCO, which is Hershey Entertainment and Resort Company. He's the vice president of sports and entertainment. In the town there is an arena and stadiums so he brings in concerts and events. We have an A-League soccer team, the Hershey Wildcats and we an AHL hockey team called the Hershey Bears. So my dad works with those teams. He's very interested in how our league is running because he's running franchises himself. This year has been great for him to talk to people like our director of operations and he's all into it.

What kind of perks do you get from Hershey?

Tickets. Tickets to events and concerts.

How about chocolate?

There are two companies in Hershey: there's HERCO and Hershey Foods. Hershey Foods has all the chocolate so unfortunately I don't get the perks of discounted chocolates but even so I still get my fill. Whenever we go back east on road trips my mom just comes with bags and bags of chocolate from the team. They all expect it from her and so do I. So I just had to bring an extra bag for the plane ride how because she always brings so much.

Were you surprised when you made the roster Independence Day Series versus Canada and the U.S. Nike Cup?

Definitely. It's dream come true. Every time that I get invited to an event it's just exciting for me. I'm just trying not to take anything for granted and just live it up while I can.

Do you think that the WUSA has helped get some players noticed -- players who April might not have been aware of before?

Definitely. April's face pops up at half of the games. You always here that she's at this game or that game. She goes to as many games as she possibly can. Plus she records them all on TV and watches them. It's definitely going to give everyone a fair opportunity now. This Nike series has a couple of new faces coming in and that's definitely because of the league. Already players are getting an opportunity that they wouldn't have had otherwise.

How would you evaluate your first season with the Spirit?

Personally I feel great about it. It's so great to have that intense soccer environment day in and day out. Even when you're playing in college you have just three months of intense soccer and then after that you go nine months with sporadic play but this is great to be able to maintain that level and I feel like my game has improved tremendously. But now there's a long six-month off-season and it depends how much work I put into the off-season how good I'll be. I think it's going to make a big difference. Our GM spoke to us about that. He said that there are a lot of players now coming up who have a hunger to be in this league. For us to maintain our positions we're going to have to work hard during the off-season.

How would you evaluate the San Diego Spirit team-wise this season?

If anything it was a learning experience for us. We came so close to making the playoffs and now after the fact we can look back and see where we made the mistakes and that inconsistency hurt us through the season. We see what a difference a win can mean over a tie. A couple of games we had a 2-0 lead and you just can't afford to tie that game and we did. Things like that where mentally we are going to have to get stronger and be more aware of each and every point throughout the season because by the time you get to the end of season every game counts.

What's the best thing that has happened to you personally this season?

My favorite thing that happened to me was definitely meeting this family up here. For me it was just a great outlet. The soccer has been incredible for the last six months but you still need an outlet to get away from the game and it was so great to come up here and just sit down with the family and relax. I think that definitely helped me get through the season.

Do you have a favorite event or appearance from this season?

Yes, this just happened. Margaret Tietjen and I went to an appearance at a wheelchair sports camp. It was awesome. We got there and they put us both in chairs and we played wheelchair soccer. And it was just an incredible experience. Just seeing these kids and so many of them have been to our games and they were just so fired up to have us there. And they were cracking up watching us falling out of the chairs and stuff. They just thought it was the funniest thing. I think we were both able to really reach out to the kids. Hopefully we'll have more opportunities like that outside of the soccer field. We were able to use our positions to reach out to these kids.

Do you have any favorite memories with your San Diego teammates?

We had a bunch but the first one I can think of is right before our first game. We started practice in the weight room and then we were going to have a pool workout and then go to the field and train. We were all just kind of burnt out from a long preseason. After we lifted Carlos Juarez sat us down and said, "All right, I don't want anyone complaining when I tell you this. I want this to be an intense session! All right, get in your cars, we're going down to the beach and we're having breakfast!" We were all so ecstatic jumping up and down and screaming. Then we went to the beach and had brunch. Everyone was out on the beach playing around. It just kind of brought us together. After that long preseason we needed a break. That always to me sticks out.

What did you do after you graduated George Mason in 1999?

I taught elementary school P.E. in Virginia. I did a substitute position for the first year and then I got a permanent position last August. So I only taught in my permanent position for 6 months and then I got drafted. The school was so supportive about my soccer. I would be hanging around the school in the afternoons after the kids had left and the teachers would come up to me and say, "Why aren't you at home? You need to be training!" They were always on me about my fitness. They were so into it, it was great.

Was it a hard decision for you to leave?

I knew that soccer was what I wanted to do but it was tough leaving. It wasn't like I really had a decision to make because I knew I wanted to play soccer but when it came time to leaving the kids and the faculty, it was definitely tough. Fortunately when we went to D.C. to play, we were there a couple of days early and I was able to go into the school and see a couple of the kids. They had been following the whole season and how the team has been doing throughout the year so it was great. They had a group of over 200 people come to our D.C. game so that was just awesome.