Welcome to another high school soccer season where many boys and girls players come and go, so you’ll need to make a phone call or text your head coach to confirm who’s playing or who’s competing for your club team, national team, or practicing with a professional team.
It’s not a mess, it’s just another sign of the many choices elite players in Southern California have to consider, and playing high school football isn’t exactly first in priority in the minds of NFL, club teams, college programs and professional teams.
Perhaps Santa Margarita’s best players, goalkeeper Peyton Trier and forward Coral Frye, will be the example of the future. They helped the Eagles win the championship Southern Section Open Junior Championship. This season, they will play Santa Margarita this month until they leave in January to join their college programs – North Carolina and Tennessee. Each said seven recruits from their future college teams will leave high school early as well.
“For me, it’s a huge advantage to go in the spring, start classes and get acclimated to the environment, have the semester beforehand to train with the team and do strength and conditioning to be ready for my freshman season,” Trier said.
“The higher level of training will help me a lot come college season,” Fry said.
Tray and Three other players had problems last season When they went to participate in a professional team training session in Brazil and were declared ineligible in the middle of the high school season due to a violation CIF Law 600.
Under CIF rules, players cannot simultaneously play on a club team and a high school team. There are also USA Soccer commitments in the middle of the high school season and many club teams do not allow students to play both. For girls and boys, they are not allowed to try out for a professional team during the high school season.
“It’s a ripple effect,” Santa Margarita coach Craig Paul said. “It’s really the professional clubs that are driving this. I’m from Europe. We come out of high school at 16, you sign a professional contract if you’re good enough and you train five days a week, where you’re 16-18 here, you play club and high school football, you train for two or three days. This is about America keeping up with the rest of the world.”
Seven coaches from the teams Santa Margarita will face in non-league games this season told Ball they have players opting out of playing high school football.
To help replace Trayer and Fry after December, Santa Margarita has one of the country’s top juniors, Mia Corona, committed to UCLA and set to join the team in January. She missed last season training with professional teams and hopes to finish her training for the final part of the high school season.
Remember what Harvard-Westlake was like without the Thompson sisters, Alyssa and Giselle, for most of their four-year high school careers. Alyssa turned professional her senior year and both signed with Nike in 2022. “There’s a lot of talent in Southern California,” Harvard-Westlake coach Richard Sims said.
The good news for the Wolverines this season is that their two best players are available. Leading scorer Kaya Santomarco King is a Colorado player and goalkeeper Sasha Selvaggio is an Ohio State player and a member of the Italian national team. The Wolverines, Santa Margarita, Corona Santiago, Mater Dei and Sherman Oaks Notre Dame should all have high teams.
The boys’ teams halted match scheduling until after a major club tournament last weekend in San Diego and the MLS Next Championship in Arizona this week.
Cathedral goalkeeper Peter Cornejo attended the FIFA U-17 World Cup in November representing El Salvador.
(Eric Sondheimer/Los Angeles Times)
“We just rely on what we have,” Loyola coach Chris Walter said. “It’s a difficult situation. I don’t think it’s fair for student-athletes to have to make decisions. They should be able to play for their school or at the highest level possible.”
Loyola has a senior player, Cody Davis, who has not played high school football since his freshman season. He is committed to Loyola Marymount and will not play again this high school season. Loyola’s top returning player is Josh Gallagher. Birmingham lost brothers Carlos and Christian Esnal, who decided to continue playing in Uruguay. Robert Mejia joins the team having never played in high school before. “He’s really good,” coach Gus Villalobos said.
Give credit to those who excel in high school football and try to prove that you can still be an elite player.
Defending City Division champion El Camino Real and long-time rival Birmingham must once again compete for the City Boys title. In the Southern Section, Cathedral returns nine players, including goalkeeper Peter Cornejo, who played in the U-17 World Cup representing El Salvador. Loyola vs. Cathedral’s annual non-league tournament is on Dec. 9 at Loyola.
JSerra is the defending Southern Section boys champion in the Open Division, and must face competition from Mater Dei, Cathedral, Bishop Amat, Orange Lutheran and Palos Verdes.
Meanwhile, coaches and CIF officials need to figure out a plan moving forward to find ways to keep elite players competing for their high schools.
CIF Executive Director Ron Nocetti said the schools failed to change or eliminate Regulation 600 because it affects all sports and would create additional problems. “We are constantly reaching out to different football organizations to work with them,” he said.
Trinity Rodman, a World Cup standout, attended JSerra but never played high school soccer after playing for Corona del Mar her freshman year.
“These girls need both,” Paul said. “They love high school football [and] What he brings and they love the club [and] What it brings. We need to find a way to do both.