The Los Gatos High School field hockey program is certainly challenging the proverb that all good things must come to an end. The Wildcats are coming off a 22-1 season that was capped by an ongoing record 18th Central Coast Section championship. They outscored three playoff opponents by a combined margin of 7-0, one of the more dominant runs in recent memory.
For the past 3 ½ decades—all with coach Henry Reyes at the helm—Los Gatos has seemingly been immune to the reality that all dynasties eventually end. Or do they?
“We have a tremendous, optimistic outlook for what the season could be for the next three months,” Reyes said. “We have a number of strong seniors and juniors who are still taking strong roles, so we’re pretty excited about that.”
Despite graduating 24 seniors off last year’s team, the word “rebuilding” isn’t a part of the Wildcats’ vocabulary. Los Gatos simply reloads, as its unprecedented run of success attests.
“We did lose a lot of seniors, but we also have 24 players returning who are playoff hardened and ready to jump in and take the new shots,” Reyes said. “So we’re going to have business as usual.”
That’s bad news for the rest of the CCS powers who were hoping the Wildcats would suffer a noticeable drop-off coming off a season in which they outscored opponents 176-4 and posted 21 shutouts in 23 matches.
Through the first couple of weeks of practice, Reyes said the players are focused and as determined as ever to uphold the rich Los Gatos field hockey tradition.
“Everyone understands the dynamics of what we do and the girls got to business right away,” Reyes said. “It was pretty much Los Gatos hockey as usual. Obviously, we’re still honing certain things, but we’re meshing and the chemistry is there.”
Reyes points to a couple of seniors who will lead the way, including Stella Musser and Stiene Bastien. Musser’s older sister, Alexa, was also a senior captain a couple of years ago. Stella anchors the defense while Bastien powers the offense.
“We have a really experienced, attacking group on that defensive line,” Reyes said. “Overall as a team, we have kids who played in the Junior Olympics and played Nexus (USA Field Hockey) competition this summer. We have a lot of talent and a lot of experience.”
Since taking over the program in 1992, Reyes has built an environment that keeps churning out championship-level teams every year. Yes, the area is teeming with talent, but it takes more than talent to win 18 section championships over a three decade-plus run.
“People understand the dynamics of the culture and what we’re trying to achieve here,” Reyes said. “We have very focused kids. Great kids who are a band of sisters. They play for each other, they enjoy the school community and they have the same goals and objectives to help each other.”
Over the last several years, Los Gatos has stood out as the only public school that can consistently compete with the private schools in the West Catholic Athletic League for section titles in a handful of sports. That Los Gatos is an anomaly in that regard speaks volumes to the community support, school and student-athletes locally.
“You and I both know public schools have no business running with the private schools and yet this program says it will give you the best chance because we will play for each other,” Reyes said. “I can’t teach that completely. They have to want it and they have to own it—I’m just a coach. I think we’ve developed enough of a reputation and the school has a tremendous academic reputation that we can keep pace at a very competitive level.”
Reyes and his coaching staff are also keen to adapt to whatever changes come to the sport.
“We try to provide the girls with the technique and information so they can continually adapt to the modern game,” Reyes said. “They’re very receptive to applying all of the information, and that is kind of the mix of the secret sauce as well.”
Reyes credits the tremendous community and parental support as also key in keeping the dynasty going. He points to the Musser family as one shining example.
“The Musser parents are always helping, whether it’s cooking or always being in the stands,” Reyes said. “Helping never gets old.”
Even though Los Gatos field hockey routinely draws huge numbers from a participatory standpoint, Reyes said the majority of players who come into the program start with other sports first before transitioning into field hockey in middle school.
“We still get most of our kids playing starting in junior high or on the eve of high school,” he said. “It’s an anomaly to see kids younger than that, but they learn a lot in a short amount of time. We have a number of kids who play multiple sports and enjoy playing field hockey for the school.”
More than anything, Reyes is proud of what the athletes go on to do after they graduate and leave the school.
“They’ll be captains of different industries,” he said. “We have sent kids to every single college in the country: Northwestern, the New York ones, Cornell, Rutgers, Davidson, all of the Pac-10s when they used to be the Pac-10, Michigan. We’ve sent them everywhere.”
The Wildcats open the season with a non-league matchup at Homestead on Sept. 2, followed by a game against Branham the next day. They also have non-league tilts with St. Francis and Stevenson in mid-September, which should provide the club with a good barometer on the area it needs to strengthen as it looks to defend its CCS championship.
“We’re trying to pick some folks who give us a good idea of what we’re doing and the things we need to get down, like our communication and timing,” Reyes said.
