The Los Altos girls soccer team bounced back from two straight losses earlier in the week to get a comfortable 2-0 home win over Santa Clara Thursday.
“It was ok, not our best game. …” Los Altos head coach Jacob Valadez said. “I was proud of the girls coming back at home, not giving up a goal, keeping it strong.”
Senior forward Nikki Zokaei scored the team’s opening goal with 21 minutes left in the first half, bringing down the ball smartly off a long pass and slotting it into the right corner after beating the Santa Clara backline. Valadez coached her for a season in junior varsity and described her as a joy to coach. Although her natural position for her club is on the wing, she plays as a striker to help the Eagles.
“She just approaches everything with a positive attitude and works so hard when she is on the field,” Valadez said.
Aoife Turner, a senior winger attending Columbia University in the fall, scored the Eagles’ second goal after the goalkeeper spilled a save in the second half. Turner is the team’s leading goal scorer and is already into double digits this season, with her potential earning her playing time with the youth national team for the Republic of Ireland. The Eagles are now 6-5-2 overall and 3-2-1 in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League DeAnza Division. Los Altos is one of five teams, including first-place Mountain View, with a chance to finish at the top of the league.
“I think if we can put this together in the next few weeks, I wouldn’t be surprised if we can go far in the playoffs for sure,” Valadez said.
The team has a mix of youth and experience, with freshmen Selya Sen and Brooke Neschleba the youngest starters. Sen can play as a right or left back, while Neschleba is in the midfield and getting opportunities to compete against older players.
“I’m very proud of those two and how they have approached training and games, and just week after week, we just feel like we can trust them even more,” he said.
Valadez is in his first year coaching the varsity team, and his main focus is on player development and overall playing style, noting that many girls play for a club team and want to reach the college level. A player told him that even in a 5-2 loss against Archbishop Mitty earlier in the season, she felt like she was getting better during the game.
“We have some good talent all around the field, and for the rest, for our younger group, it’s about developing them and getting them where they want to be,” Valadez said.
The 2011 Los Altos High graduate played for the Eagles soccer team and then played for the University of California San Diego for four years. He grew up playing in the Mountain View Los Altos Soccer Club and now teaches math at the school. He spent the last
two years coaching the junior varsity team and other youth soccer teams outside of the school before coaching varsity.
“I was really excited to take the step up and coach a good group of girls with a lot of potential and also help those younger girls keep developing,” Valadez said.
