The Anzar High girls soccer team came close to earning a Central Coast Section playoff berth last season. Although second-year coach Tony Rosa said the odds are stacked against the team this year to making the postseason, he likes the makeup of the squad.
“I like the players we have, but we don’t have as many returning starters as I would have liked,” Rosa said. “There are some girls who elected not to play this season, so we’re not as strong or as talented as we were last year. We’ll play a more defensive style because of that, and hopefully we’ll be good on the counter attack and surprise some teams.”
The Hawks entered their winter break with a 2-3-0 record, a decent mark considering they played two Division I schools (Anzar is Division V). Rosa hopes his prolific-scoring striker, Charlene Tomasini, can come close to matching last year’s output of 25 goals.
“Charlee is very skillful, has good speed and knows how to protect the ball,” Rosa said. “She’s been battling shin splints, and hopefully the inflammation goes away.”
Other key returners include sweeper Ronnee Davis, center backs Emely Jauregui and Erika Eberhardt, striker Michelle Serna and midfielder Hailey Kennedy.
“Ronnee holds the defense together,” said Rosa, who has also been impressed by the play of freshmen midfielders Peyton Masuen and Montserrat Valenzuela. “Our freshmen cover a lot of ground, and they’re going to help us this season.”
Expect the Hawks to play five defenders, three midfielders and two forwards for a good chunk of the season. The Hawks realize they’ll have to out-work their opponents if they want to contend for a league championship. In Davis, they have a player who displays plenty of energy and feistiness. As the sweeper, Davis does a lot of yelling—mostly constructive, of course.
“I yell the words ‘push up’ so much to get the girls in front of me,” Davis said. “I really enjoy playing the position, and everyone has been pretty solid so far.”
Davis wasn’t able to play much in the off-season because she was working and also nursing sore knees. However, the time off had a positive effect, as Davis has been pain-free and making an impact all over the field. The junior feels good about the state of the program, noting the play of Masuen and Sandoval.
“They’re really good, they listen well and they’re productive at practice,” she said. “They have a lot of potential, and it’s always exciting when you can have freshmen make an impact right away.”
Davis also feels strongly about goalkeeper Isabel Cuellar, who is gaining more confidence with each passing match. Along with Tomasini, Serna is a scoring threat at the other striker position. Serna recently gave a speech at a TedX event in San Francisco, pretty heady stuff for a 17-year-old senior (the speech can be seen on youtube/ezQ71eGPDj0, Facebook.com/TEDxSF/ and the Tedx website listed with Serna’s name on it).
Serna also has written a story for Teen Vogue and has won numerous honors in rodeo, including being named Miss California Rodeo High School District 4 when she was a freshman. Serna said soccer has been an integral part of her life, and she’s childhood friends and teammates with Tomasini.
“Charlee and I grew up together,” Serna said. “I love soccer because it actually teaches you how to be a real teammate. And those are skills you’ll need in life going forward.”
