It’s not championship or bust for the Sobrato High girls soccer team this season. Let that sink in for a moment because the Bulldogs won’t be defined by a win at all costs mentality. Are expectations high coming off the program’s first-ever Central Coast Section playoff championship game appearance?
Most definitely. Are the Bulldogs loaded to make another run to the title game, having returned their entire starting lineup, an almost unheard of occurrence in high school sports? You bet. But whatever happens on the field, dare we say it will pale in comparison to what they’ve already accomplished off the pitch.
To wit: the team carries a 3.99 GPA—the entire team!—putting it in the running for the highest GPA out of any team—in all sports—in the CCS.
“I’m much more proud of their team GPA than I am of their athletic accomplishments,” said Sobrato coach Ted Thomas said. “They are smart and driven.”
In seemingly everything they participate in. Because Sobrato has no turf home field, coupled with the fact the Morgan Hill Sports Complex is under renovation, the team has had to practice and play its “home” matches at Live Oak High this season. For the last couple of years, the players have done more fundraising events to help raise the necessary fees it takes to rent out time at the Sports Complex.
They recently held a See’s Candy fundraiser, and last weekend they all gathered to make tamales to sell as part of another fundraiser. In January, they’re set to do a fundraiser at Applebee’s, in which they’ll sell tickets and serve customers and help clean up the restaurant. Thomas said he and the volunteer coaches put their coaching stipends directly back into the program, “so the girls don’t have to fundraise 7K (thousand) just to play soccer, which is kind of crazy considering our circumstances.”
Thomas thanked Live Oak for working with them—“We get no love from anyone other than Live Oak,” he said—and that despite the team’s unusual situation, the girls thrive on challenges. Especially the four senior captains: Kayla Morales, Emily Pfefferlen, Megan Rottenborn and Sarah Somavia.
Morales, who has a scholarship to play at Cal State East Bay next year, and Pfefferlen work well together as two of the more dynamic forwards in the entire section. Last season the duo accounted for nearly a third of the team’s goal output. Rottenborn, a central defender, and Somavia, a goalkeeper, make things difficult for teams to score on the Bulldogs.
So how does the team balance enjoying the process and journey of all the things that are enjoyable outside of winning with the fact its main goal is winning the program’s first-ever CCS title?
“That’s a good question,” Pfefferlen said. “We all know how rewarding it is and how hard it is to get to the level we did last year. So we try to enjoy everything we do and have a positive attitude about it. We’re all happy to put in the work because we know how far it can take us.”
And therein lies the root success of the Bulldogs: by focusing on the things they can control—being enthusiastic even amid the daily grind of practices, for instance—they’ve already displayed a championship attitude. Yes, winning a section title would be historic, but the players have already shown they can balance school, sports and other activities with a productivity few other teams—if any—can match.
Pfefferlen carries a weighted 4.4 GPA and is also a part of the school’s ASB leadership program, meaning she’s on campus at 7 a.m. everyday for zero period. That’s some serious dedication, folks. And yet Pfefferlen isn’t an exception on this team; rather, she’s the rule.
“We have some really high achievers,” she said.
The seniors know it’s important to make the newcomers on the team feel welcome, as it will build team chemistry. That’s why Pfefferlen said the team has multiple functions ranging from team sleepovers to breakfast, lunch or dinner outings. The relationships the players build off the field end up helping the team’s on-field cohesiveness.
“We already had a good foundation, but we want to keep that strong and make it easier for freshmen or new players to join the team,” Pfefferlen said. “Going into this season it’s obvious we have really good chemistry.”
The Bulldogs have a deep and talented roster, with several players capable of scoring on a moment’s notice. That means teams can’t focus on any one player, or they risk getting burned for that tactic.
“We don’t have a best player on the team, but we have a number of girls who have tremendous skill and are difference-makers,” Thomas said.
And that makes the Bulldogs downright dangerous and potent in every phase of the game. Driven to succeed, Sobrato is a team on a mission. Not long after the loss to Presentation, the players were already talking about making it back to the section championship game and finishing the deal.
‘”We were all ready for this season to start,” Pfefferlen said. “We said to each other, ‘OK, when does practice start again?’”
It’s that type of attitude that has carried the Bulldogs this far, and something they’ll use in abundance as their quest for a section title continues.
