Pajaro Valley High on Monday announced that Juan Roman was named the new head coach of the girls’ soccer team.
If the name sounds familiar, that’s because he was the former head coach of the boys’ soccer team until 2020. Yet, he had remained as an assistant coach even after he stepped down.
“I love the school,” Roman said. “I want to do everything for the school.”
Roman, 59, replaces former head coach Kristian Flores, who helped guide the Grizzlies into the Pacific Coast Athletic League’s Gabilan Division — the highest tier of the four divisions within the league.
“I felt like Kristian did a tremendous job,” Roman said.
But, the newly appointed skipper believes the program needs consistency. He said before Flores, the girls had gone through a carousel of coaches. Roman hopes to stop that trend.
“We have a lot of coaching for the boys, so I said why not?” Roman said.
PV athletic director Joe Manfre is excited for Roman to take over the girls’ program after spending a decade with the boys’ team.
“[Roman’s] been coaching for a long time,” Manfre said. “Has a lot of knowledge about the game of soccer. I know that he really loves this school.”
Manfre said the ideal candidate for a head coach is someone who wants to be at the school and build a home on campus.
“I feel like he’s done that, and it’s been awesome working with him every step of the way as a head coach and as an assistant coach,” Manfre said.
Roman delved into girls soccer when he became head coach for Rolling Hills Middle School’s program two years ago. He’s hoping to meet some of those same players at the high school level.
Roman noticed participation for girls soccer has been extremely low for the Grizzlies, who competed in the Gabilan Division during the 2025-26 campaign.
He remembers at one point there would be just nine players at training sessions.
“For a program that’s in the Gabilan, and only having that minimum amount of players for practice, it was kind of hard to maintain a great level,” Roman said.
Roman’s mission is to motivate some girls to at least show up, and give him a chance to show they can be competitive at whatever level they’re placed in.
“Have a big program,” he said.
On top of everything else, Roman said he wants the players to maintain a positive attitude no matter the outcome.
“Wins and losses will come and go,” he said. “But the attitude has to be there the whole time. My job is to make sure that the girls stay motivated, the girls want to come out and give their best. It starts with the coach encouraging that, and the coach giving his 100 percent, too.”
