It took just one match—its season opener—for the Los Gatos High girls soccer team to equal its entire win total from a year ago.
Coming off a tough 1-16 season, the Wildcats already have shown the 2022-2023 season will be vastly different than last year. Jessica Ingram is in her inaugural season as the Los Gatos coach but has plenty of experience manning the sideline as a current coach with club program Los Gatos United and spending the last two years as the Presentation High junior varsity coach.
Talk about a rapid rebuild: the Wildcats, who beat perennial power Mountain View 4-2 in the season-opener on Nov. 29, are carrying 23 girls on the roster and 22 on the JV squad, healthy numbers for a traditionally proud program. Ingram made one thing clear: the team isn’t building just for this season, but for the future as well.
“Any game we go into this season, it’s going to be more about developing a better culture and better team to make a difference going forward,” she said. “We not only want to come out of this season stronger than we did last year, but we want to create a better program we can be proud of and people want to be proud of. It’s great we beat Mountain View and to be excited about that performance, but that game is done and we’ve got to keep growing and developing. We don’t want to get complacent or comfortable.”
Los Gatos finished 1-11 and last place in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League’s upper De Anza Division last year and thus got placed in the lower El Camino Division for this season. However, given the historical success of the program, the Wildcats are looking to make their stay in the El Camino a rather short one.
Abby Lo, Sam Elliott and Leila Pozas scored the goals in the Mountain View game, notable in that Elliott and Lo are field hockey standouts.
McKenzie Powell and Ellie White also played field hockey in the recently completed fall season and all four have made an impact.
“They’re coming off a great field hockey season and they bring a competitive mindset and a competitive attitude,” Ingram said. “Overall, I’m just proud of the entire team because they could’ve easily come in with a negative mindset, but they’ve bought into the perspective of taking it day by day and not assuming anything will be handed to us.”
Starting spots are always up for competition—especially early in the season—but against Mountain View freshman Cora Bryant was at goalkeeper. Kate Gruetter and Carly Enneking were the center backs, White was at left outside back, Marissa Volpe at right outside back, Malia Yamamoto was at central defensive midfielder, Macie Yannoni was at central midfielder, returning starter Caitlyn Simons played attacking center midfielder, Brynn Gipson played center forward, and Leila Pozas and Vanessa Leathem manned the left and right wing positions, respectively.
Los Gatos has two Division I commits in Yamamoto and Simons, though Ingram said it’s too early in the season to predict who will be the “game-changers.” There could be several players in that regard, and Ingram highlighted some of the players’ intangibles, things that go a long way in helping a team develop.
“Brynn and Malia are the two captains and natural leaders,” she said. “They lead by example and are constantly pushing the team to be better but at the same time finding the balance of having fun in the process. They add a sense of composure when they’re on the ball.”
Sophomore Macie Yannoni has also been solid on and off the field, said Ingram, who also praised Teagan Conklin for “helping out as a manager” as she works her way back from an ACL injury.
“All the players have been great,” Ingram said. “They all have individual strengths and qualities that add to the culture not only for this season, but going into the future. We want people to be incorporated into the culture of the change, so some players might not get a lot of playing time, but they’re part of the change. It’s not just about this season, but what we want for the long term.”
Sports editor Emanuel Lee can be reached at el**@we*****.com