Breakers take soccer to college ... and back

Girls’ soccer has long been the largest participation sport in California high schools, with more than 40,000 players statewide. With a majority of those participants in the CIF Southern Section, Orange County high schools are loaded with talented players and as such, it is a very competitive arena for girls that aspire to play at the collegiate level.

Yet, relatively small Laguna Beach High has exhibited abnormal success at putting girls into NCAA programs in recent years. This year’s girls’ varsity soccer team has four girls committed to play collegiately in 2010 and two more waiting to hear. Recently, teammates Kelsey Peterson, Alex DeGarmo, Jessie Good Man and Christina Gardilcic all committed. Peterson will be playing for the University of Chicago, DeGarmo for Bucknell, Good Man for Union College and Gardilcic is weighing her options at Lesley University and San Francisco State. They will join several other recent Laguna Beach grads who play at UC San Diego, Emory, Redlands, Centenary, the United States Coast Guard Academy, Saddleback, Orange Coast and Azusa Pacific.

Club-trained players continue to be the core of the Laguna varsity team and the earlier girls start club, the quicker their game advances to the next level.

And then there are the returning players. This year’s frosh-soph team is coached by Laguna Beach High graduates Laura Yale and Nicole Lengacher. Both girls played for Laguna Beach and Laguna Niguel Soccer Clubs as grade schoolers, followed by four years for the Breakers. Graduating from Colorado College and UC Santa Barbara, respectively, the pair returned to Laguna and have their Breaker frosh-soph team in first place in Orange Coast League competition. The annual LBHS alumnae match had extra meaning recently with so many girls participating from years past. 2005 Co-Captains Emily Rolfing and Courtney Hamchuk (a four-year SFSU player) returned recently to lead the alumni in a close contest with the present Breaker varsity squad. The varsity has been claiming narrow victories in recent years, but the games are getting tighter with the return of college-playing Breakers and the depth of Laguna Beach soccer talent.

“” Bill Rolfing, Laguna Beach High girls’ soccer coach