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Sports

GIRLS SOCCER: High Hopes for Watsonville High

Preseason play gets the Wildcatz ready for their upcoming league challenges.

In the five years Gladys Mondragon has coached Watsonville High School girls' soccer program, the team has taken three Monterey Bay league titles.

This year looks like another banner year.

"We are hoping to win the league title this year, go to CCS (Central Coastal Section) and make it past the first round," said T.J. Stokes, a volunteer coach assistant who, along with assistant coach Ralphy Ruiz and volunteer assistant Sal Zuniga, is one of Mondragon's right-hand men.

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With 22 players, half returning from last season, the varsity girls team has a strong core back, led by a solid defensive group.

He expects their biggest challenges this season to come from Monte Vista and North County high schools.

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"They are smaller and don't have as many students," Stokes said. " Watsonville's girls as very team-oriented They focus on teamwork, and their plays are not built around any one player. And most of the girls playing varsity this year have played soccer together for two or more years."

The week after Thanksgiving, the team hosted its fifth-annual preseason tournament at WHS. Twelve area teams participated.

The team took a big loss in a recent game against Santa Cruz High School. The 5-0 loss came as a surprise.

"It's the first year losing to them in a long time that badly," Mondragon said "The team has a lot of strong individual players, but they need to pull together. A loss now is better than a loss later in the season. It's good for the team to play strong teams, and Santa Cruz is definitely a strong team."

Sophomore Nataly Leon was noted by Mondragon as a top scorer in preseason. 

Senior Kassandra Marquez scored one of the team's preseason goals during the first tournament. She's played varsity all four years at WHS and said her hopes for her final season are to win league, go to CCS and win the first CCS game.

"They are a strong team, but hopefully bonding will make them even stronger," Mondragon said.

Rebecca Mares, another senior and returning varsity player is also hopeful for big things ahead.

"I am looking forward to growing as a team this year. We're very close here. It's not just soccer. It's family."

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