San Juan Bautista Girls soccer team kicks into gear

Lea este articulo en español aquí.

If the results of their first two tournaments are any indication, San Juan Bautista’s U15 girls soccer team, the Elites, is a championship team in the making. After taking first place in the 2024 California Rush Spring Cup on April 7, the team became the U15 Cal North State Cup finalist a week later. And the season is just beginning. 

“We only formed the team four months ago,” said head coach Justin Garman, “and the Rush Cup was our first-ever tournament and the first games we played. But we took the trophy home, and we are all very, very proud of these girls.”

The California Rush Spring Cup was held in Morgan Hill and marked the first time the girls had ever played in a competition as a team. On the first day of the meet, April 6, the Elites defeated Sierra Surf 2-0 and San Jose Rush 3-2. The following day, they won 3-0 in the first game and 5-1 for the championship in consecutive games against Cascade FC.

“The Washington team, in particular, was really good,” Garman said. And the Tahoe girls were really in shape, coming from a higher elevation. It brought a big demand on the girls, but they pulled through for the win.”

The girls plan to present their trophy to the city of San Juan at the next City Council meeting, and it will be displayed in City Hall. 

The teams attending the Spring Cup give a good idea of the geographic diversity of the North State League. The Visalia team traveled 167 miles to attend, with journeys of 250 miles for the Tahoe and 871 miles for the Cascade teams.  

“Cal North is a pretty huge territory,” Garman said. “We have five more tournaments planned, and they will take the girls as far away as Sacramento and San Francisco.”

While most of the expenses are covered by the parents of the players, many local businesses, including Jardines de San Juan, Graniterock, PULSE ShowerSpas, Mt. Tam Fresh Inc., Vertigo, Windmill Market, Quebec Distributing and El Camino Produce have made donations to the team.

The girls played their second tournament, the Cal North State Cup, a week after the Spring Cup. On April 16, they scored a decisive 6-1 victory against Milpitas YSL FC followed later in the afternoon by a 2-0 win against the Alum Rock Fútbol Club.  The following day, the girls had their only loss so far in the season, a tough 1-0 match against Visalia United FC.

Though the team only took second place, three of its players, Chantal Saucedo, Manaya Rivera and Grace Garman, were among the 11 U15 players honored by the league as best in the meet. 

“Chantal really stands out,” coach Garman said. “She has good ball awareness, and she’s the one who puts all the goals in the net for us.” 

Saucedo, 13, has been playing soccer for eight years. She became interested in the game while watching her brother play. She said the hardest thing about soccer is when the game is going against the team.

“When you’re getting frustrated because you are down,” she said, “you gotta think positive and bring up the team. It’s hard, but we manage to do it because we all have a good bond, which helps us on the field.”

Garman said Rivera, 13, may not be the tallest or biggest player, but she is one of the most physical girls out on the field and can hold her ground.

“I think I am very fast and can control the ball,” she said. “But I think we’re going to win a lot of games because we know each other and know how to play together.”
Garman’s daughter, Grace, 13, is the team’s star goalie. She started playing soccer when she was four years old and, in one game, distinguished herself by stopping the ball with her face. 

“We’ve been training a lot this past summer,” she said, “Being goalie puts a lot of responsibility on me, and I try to push my teammates to keep them going. I try the best I can to provide for the team and I believe we are going to end up as champions this year.”

Garman said he has enough faith in his team’s judgment to simply give them options before each game, after which they can make their own choices on the field. And some of those decisions, he said, surprised him.

“We’ve had a couple of instances where other teams only had eight players,” he said. “And they decided as a team that the right thing to do was match with only eight players instead of more. It has been really cool to see that they have good human qualities as well as good soccer qualities.”

Tryouts for the 2009, 2010, and 2011 girls teams and the 2008, 2010 and 2012 boys teams, which currently practice in Castroville, begin on May 20. For more information, contact sjbsoccerclub@gmail.com.

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