Shantay Tamez is the high school version of Stephen Curry on the soccer field, where a shot from long range equates to a good scoring opportunity. Tamez’s rifle for a leg was on full display in the San Benito High girls soccer team’s 5-0 dismantling of Gilroy on Jan. 29.
At certain points in a game, Abraham Arevalo can’t see his teammate, Jonathan Garcia, up the field. But the sophomore midfielder delivers a through ball, anyway, knowing his good friend will be in the vicinity of the pass and in prime scoring position.
Before the start of a match against York on Jan. 8, Anzar High senior forward Charlene Tomasini approached teammate Ronnee Davis and asked her if she was ready to play forward. Davis was thinking, ‘Say what?’
It’s gut-check time for the San Benito High boys soccer team. After a 2-1 loss to Pajaro Valley on Monday, the Haybalers have little margin for error if they plan on finishing in the top three in the tough Monterey Bay League Gabilan Division. San Benito, which is battling Pajaro Valley for fourth place in the standings, dropped to 0-2-3 in league play.
The San Benito High girls soccer team has entered the most critical juncture of its season. The Haybalers entered Wednesday’s game against Salinas—the result was not available when this edition went to press—in fourth place in the Monterey Bay League Gabilan Division standings, trailing first-place Salinas, Gilroy and Christopher.
When Austin Perez suffered a second torn anterior cruciate ligament during her sophomore year—her second in three years—it would’ve been easy for her to give up athletics permanently.
As Michelle Serna prepared to take the stage to give an eight-minute speech for a TEDx Talk event in San Francisco on Oct. 29, she felt fully prepared. After all, the Anzar High senior had rehearsed her speech so many times that “it didn’t feel special anymore.” However, Serna still felt a rush of adrenaline in the moments before her speech.
The San Benito High boys soccer team knows no one expects it to finish among the top three teams in the Monterey Bay League’s Gabilan Division, which would earn it an automatic berth into the Central Coast Section playoffs. That’s just fine to the Haybalers, who won the third-place game of the prestigious Homestead Cup Tournament last Saturday.
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.
Kayla King received her first yellow card when she was 4. She hasn’t let up ever since. The San Benito High senior continued her aggressive ways and stayed dedicated to soccer, and all of the hard work paid off when she verbally committed to play for Jacksonville University, a Division I program in Florida.