While Gilroy High’s Alfonso Motagalvan was shooting jump shots
and thinking about being the next Michael Jordan instead of the
next Ronaldo, San Benito High’s Jennifer Rose Vandenberg had
already been training seriously for soccer for a couple years, with
the goal of playing Division I soccer driving her to train.
While Gilroy High’s Alfonso Motagalvan was shooting jump shots and thinking about being the next Michael Jordan instead of the next Ronaldo, San Benito High’s Jennifer Rose Vandenberg had already been training seriously for soccer for a couple years, with the goal of playing Division I soccer driving her to train.
When Motagalvan found his calling in soccer, he became the Mustangs’ unshakable field general in the midfield, directing his teammates and sending perfect passes to scorers. Vandenberg, on the other hand, played forward and became a feared scorer with the ability to break through double and triple teams and score at will.
They took different paths, but the UC-Santa Barbara–bound Motagalvan and the UCLA–bound Vandenberg both ended their high school soccer careers in the same spot – at the top and headed to two of the best college soccer programs in the country.
A dream comes full circle
It’s happened plenty of times. And all anyone can ever do is watch.
It’s a sight San Benito coach Mike Schurig calls an example of “the beautiful game.”
It’s when San Benito forward Jennifer Rose Vandenberg gets the ball upfield and works the offensive magic she’s trained 10 years to master.
Vandenberg’s best friend and fellow senior Kitra Brigantino, who was a defender for the Haybalers and has played in countless practices and games with Vandenberg, still can’t get over it.
“I love playing with Rose,” Brigantino says. “On defense, we just watch her and coach will be like, ‘Girls pay attention! Don’t just watch her!'”
But then again, that’s why the San Benito program improved so much during Vandenberg’s four-year varsity career.
“Some of the better players were just good athletes,” says Schurig of the team he inherited. “There weren’t true soccer players. But our philosophy was to bring the whole level up and use Rose as spearhead.”
Which involved having the players watch Vandenberg.
“Look at Rose,” Schurig would say. “That’s how to dribble.”
The Hollister team improved, and so did Vandenberg, who scored a mind-blowing 56 goals in 22 games her sophomore year. Vandenberg ended her career at San Benito with 132 goals and 53 assists, and as a member of the all-CCS first team.
But the scholarship to play at UCLA, her first choice of schools, was the icing on the cake for Vandenberg, who had been dreaming of playing soccer for a top Division I program.
“In the midst of (all the training), I would think, ‘Is this going to be worth it?'” she says. “I had to make sacrifices. My friends would go out late and I can’t because I’m training. (When I got the scholarship) I finally felt like that paid off.”
Vandenberg, who was not heavily recruited by other programs of UCLA’s caliber, caught the attention of the Bruin coaches when she went to the team’s summer camp her sophomore year.
“They saw something in her,” Schurig says. “They saw how coachable she was, her work ethic. The same thing I see.”
Vandenberg plays soccer virtually year-round, for school and a club. And when she doesn’t have practice for either, she’s alone on the soccer fields at San Benito High, conditioning and perfecting her skills.
She understands that it will be difficult to step right in and contribute to such an elite program. Still, Vandenberg says she’s prepared to be the underdog on a team that made it to the NCAA final last year and features two All-Americans. Unlike several other UCLA recruits, Vandenberg hasn’t played ODP or on youth national teams.
“I never made those pools,” she says.
But Schurig, who has seen Vandenberg mature from a quiet and sometimes frustrated freshman to a vocal leader who didn’t mind carrying a team as a senior, expects to see his four-time team MVP do well at the collegiate level.
“I see her as a leader or a captain, even at UCLA, in a short amount of time,” he says.
The Prototype
Before he began playing soccer seriously, Alfonso Motagalvan had a plan. He was going to alternate between playing basketball and soccer through all four years of high school. Both sports are played in the winter and Motagalvan didn’t want to choose between the two.
But there was one problem. He was too good at soccer. So good, in fact, he’s widely considered to be the best soccer player ever to play at GHS.
To Gilroy co-head coach Brian Hall, Motagalvan was the “prototype player and person” of what a Mustang soccer player should be.
“He lives life with a passion both on and off the field,” Hall says. “He possesses the ability to pass that passion along to those around him.”
Motagalvan’s passion has made him a pioneer. He’s the first GHS soccer player to earn a Division I scholarship and the CCS Player of the Year award, which he received for a stellar senior season.
More importantly to Motagalvan, when he begins classes at UCSB in the fall, he’ll be the first person in his family to go to college.
“I was focused more on academics,” says Motagalvan, who’s been on the GHS honor roll all four years and maintains a 3.9 GPA. “You never know if you’ll get injured. I didn’t know if I was even going to get an athletic scholarship so I had to do well in school.”
But college coaches did take notice, and Motagalvan chose the Gauchos, who made it to the NCAA title game last fall, over UC-Berkeley, UC-Santa Cruz and UNLV.
It seems Motagalvan is now reaping the benefits of a bittersweet decision he had to make his junior year. In September 2003, Motagalvan decided to stay in Gilroy and live with his aunt and uncle, Luis and Maria Galvan, and his two young cousins, Joseph and Luis, Jr., instead of moving to Mexico with his immediate family.
“It was frustrating for him sometimes, but he’s persevered and didn’t give up,” says Hall, who coached Motagalvan at both the club level and in high school. “I told him if you stay in the U.S. where there’s strong academics, what you can do in the long term is better.”
Hall says college and national team coaches judge players on four aspects: Their technical, tactical, physical and mental/psychological abilities. In the coach’s opinion, Motagalvan’s mental ability is the greatest part of his game.
“He may not be the best in all areas, but he’s very strong in all areas,” says Hall, who’s also a referee at the international level. “He’s so observant.”
Motagalvan sees things other players don’t. In practice, Hall would place practice cones down a certain way, spinning them before they hit the ground. Motagalvan noticed, and placed the cones the same way. And the midfielder can mimic his coach’s running stride perfectly.
“I do a lot of running with the guys and I have a running style and he’ll laugh and imitate it,” Hall says.
It’s no surprise that Motagalvan intends to study psychology in college.
“I like working with others and helping others,” he says.
Motagalvan has high ambitions for his freshman season at UCSB – and beyond. As a senior, he was a part of the Olympic Development Program (ODP) and in the under–18 National Team pool. His goal is to continue to improve and make it into the under–20 pool. If his past experience is any indication of how he’ll handle future pressures, Motagalvan will reach his goals.
In 2004, Motagalvan’s junior year, the Gilroy soccer team had its best season in school history and made it all the way to the CCS final match. But the Mustangs underperformed during the 2004-2005 season.
“We were more talented this year, but what separated (the two teams) was heart,” Motagalvan says.
Still, the senior did his best to set an example for his younger teammates.
“This year, I was a senior so I tried to give them a positive example. I like to be in charge because you need a leader on the team. You’ve got to step up,” Motagalvan says. “Since I was little, my parents have always given me a lot of responsibility. I like to be the best.”
