Los Altos Town Crier » LA girls soccer team young, but talented

By Pete Borello

Image from article LA girls soccer team<br />
young, but talented

Joe Hu/Town Crier
Los Altos junior Sarah Nolet, left, heads the ball over a Santa Teresa defender in last week’s game, a 2-0 win for the Eagles.

Don’t be fooled by their age. The players making up this season’s Los Altos High girls soccer team may be young, but they play well beyond their years.

“They know the game and play well together,” Eagles coach Erin Montoya said of her squad, comprising three seniors, two juniors, 11 sophomores and three freshmen. “They have great skill and move the ball nicely.”

Ten of them honed their skills with the MVLA Mercury, an elite club team coached by Erin’s husband Albertin Montoya. Junior Lauren Machado, sophomores Margueritte Aozasa, Julia Cashen, Lauren Crum, Nicole Duller, Hallie Keenan, Emily Langston, Sarah NeSmith and Brittany Westrum, and freshman Kellie Welch helped the Mercury capture the under-14 state cup in 2004. The nine who attended Los Altos last year didn’t come out for the school team, opting instead to participate in college showcases with the Mercury, which ranked as high as second in the nation in the 15s.

Montoya, in her first year coaching the Eagles, is elated to have all 10 on her team.

“They’re young, but they’ve played a lot of soccer,” she said. “They all know each other and play the same style.”

The coach said the players are fitting in nicely with Los Altos’ seven returnees: seniors Jacqueline D’Innocenti, Lauren Glazebrook and Erikka De Silva, juniors Sarah Nolet and Amanda Lipson, and sophomores Taylor Freret and Emily Galli.

“They’re a good group of girls,” Montoya said of the returning players. “They’ve been very welcoming and supportive of the new players coming in.”

Freshmen Kaitlyn Keenan (Hallie’s sister) and Rachael Mott round out the team.

The 19 players, who beat out about 40 others to make the team, are all getting playing time, according to Montoya.

“We keep a good rotation,” the coach said. “We have a very deep bench; all of them can start.”

D’Innocenti leads the team in scoring. The senior is “a good role model” and “a good little player,” Montoya said. The forward scored in the Eagles’ season-opening win over Pinewood and had two goals and an assist in the first round of the Palo Alto Classic, a 4-0 win over Paly.

Forward Westrum posted a goal and an assist against Paly, then notched another goal the next day in Los Altos’ 2-0 tournament win over Santa Teresa.

Aozasa accounted for the Eagles’ other goal against Paly. Montoya said Aozasa isn’t the fastest or strongest player on the team, but she is one of the best.

“She has amazing skill and sees the game like a coach would,” Montoya said of Aozasa, a member of the under-15 national team. “Her teammates respect her and she steps up in big games. She’s incredible.”

Los Altos has also received strong play in the midfield from Hallie Keenan, Glazebrook and NeSmith. Keenan had a goal against Santa Teresa and in Saturday’s 3-0 semifinal win over Carlmont, in which NeSmith notched a goal and an assist.

While the Eagles have plenty of players who can score, Montoya said they also have several girls capable of preventing the opposition from scoring. De Silva and Galli, who split time in goal, didn’t yield a score in the first four games of the season. “Both have made big saves,” the coach said, and have been helped by formidable fullbacks Crum, Duller, Lipson, Nolet and Welch.

With so much talent, young or not, the Eagles look like the favorite in the SCVAL El Camino Division. At 4-1 after losing to Mitty in the tourney final, Los Altos already has more wins than last year. The injury-riddled Eagles went 2-11-7 and finished last in the SCVAL De Anza Division, earning them a demotion to the El Camino.

Expect this team to get better as the season progresses.

“The girls are just getting to know each other,” Montoya said. “The longer they play together, the better we’ll be.”