WATSONVILLE — Elyanna Magdaleno, Watsonville’s do-it-all soccer player, said she does not like to talk about herself.
Whether it is about her play on the field, or her life off of it.
“I hate pumping myself up,” the junior Wildcat said. “It’s an awkward thing to do… I don’t like putting myself above anyone else, especially my teammates.”
So she considers herself “lucky” to have flown under the radar — outside of the Pacific Coast Athletic League Mission division, anyway — despite putting up some gaudy offensive numbers this winter.
Magdaleno has scored at least 24 goals over the course of the season, and her head coach, Gladys Mondragon, estimates she’s made at least seven assists.
The tall and speedy striker’s scoring total might actually be closer to 30, as eight goals from three early preseason matches are still unaccounted for.
When asked if she wanted to take credit for those unclaimed scores, Magdaleno said: “They don’t matter now. We got what we wanted.”
Behind her brilliance, Watsonville last week completed its run to the PCAL-Mission crown with blowout wins over Notre Dame-Salinas and Greenfield.
Magdaleno scored five goals in an 8-0, title-clinching win over the Spirits on Feb. 7, and she scored another goal in a 6-0 win over the Bruins a day later.
Her impressive performance against ND-Salinas was old hat, as she’s had five multi-goal games this season.
“She’s been very consistent in every one of her games this season, very focused,” Mondragon said. “She’s becoming that one goal scorer that we were really looking for — that we really wanted and needed.”
And the goal scorer Watsonville was missing last winter.
The Wildcatz last season scored all of 11 goals in league competition, and 23 for the entire season, as they finished fifth in the now-defunct Monterey Bay League Gabilan division and went 7-8-4 overall.
Magdaleno spent most of last season as a defender and midfielder, and managed to catch the eye of enough coaches to earn all-league honorable mention despite Watsonville’s losing season.
Mondragon, seeing Magdaleno’s mix of size, speed and power, moved her to top of Watsonville’s attack at the beginning of the season, and asked her to become a leader for a team that was short on seniors with strong leadership qualities.
Magdaleno stepped up to the challenge not only with her offensive prowess, but her willingness to play other positions — she’s had to play defense on last-second notice a handful of times throughout the year.
“Right now, I’m balancing everything perfectly,” Magdaleno said.
Outside of the PCAL-Mission, Magdaleno is somewhat of an unknown quantity.
According to the stats reported to MBayPreps.com, she has only eight goals, and Watsonville, as of Thursday night, has no roster on MaxPreps.com, let alone stats for its players.
Her 24 goals would be the third-most in the tri-county area, according to MBayPreps, and the fifth-most in the CCS, according to MaxPreps.
“She’s surprising everyone, including herself,” said Mondragon, who does not have a statistician.
Watsonville, however, will probably not be flying under anyone’s radar heading into the upcoming Central Coast Section playoffs, as it received the top seed in Division II and will host No. 8 Piedmont Hills on Saturday at 5 pm.
The Wildcatz, who will be looking for their elusive first-ever playoff win, are unbeaten in their last 11 games, and have allowed only four goals over the course of their staggering streak.
“That’s been a team effort,” Magdaleno said. “I’ve had to play other spots, and other girls have had to score for us…It hasn’t been all me.”
Mondragon agreed with her star, explaining that her starting lineup this season has not been the same for more than two consecutive games. Some girls have missed time with injury, and others stopped showing up to practice. A committed group of roughly 13, however, banded together even as the team’s numbers dwindled.
“This team is like a big family, they’re like my big sisters,” said freshman winger Nayeli Jimenez, who is second on the team in goals with six. “We’re all committed to this. We could all be somewhere else, but we’re here. We’re putting everything. We give it our all.”
Having Magdaleno leading the way doesn’t hurt either.
In other girls’ soccer action from Feb. 7-13:
• Aptos 1, Santa Cruz 1 – Gisselle Vasquez scored off an assist from Aubree Westjohn in the Mariners’ Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League tie on Tuesday night.
Aptos finished the regular season 12-1-5 overall and 6-1-3 in SCCAL action.
• St. Francis 1, Pajaro Valley 0 – McKenna Bedolla scored for the Sharks in their PCAL-Cypress win over the Grizzlies on Monday.
The win helped St. Francis finish 7-6-1 overall and third in the league with a 6-6 record.
Pajaro Valley, meanwhile, completed its season with a 0-10-2 overall record and an 0-8-2 league standing.
• At Stevenson 7, Ceiba 1 – Alexia Carrisales scored the Spartans’ lone goal in Feb. 7’s PCAL-Santa Lucia loss.
Ceiba finished the season 8-5-1 overall and in league play.
• At Soquel 2, Aptos 0 – The Mariners’ 18-game unbeaten streak against SCCAL opponents came to a halt in Feb. 7’s loss.
LINE OF THE WEEK (Feb. 7-13)
• Elyanna Magdaleno, Watsonville – Scored five goals against Notre Dame-Salinas on Feb. 7.
