La Jolla High field hockey: Smaller is bigger

La Jolla’s field hockey team is led by the “big three” of returning All-CIF First Team members Sienna Gustafson, Pixie DeLeon, and Lizzie Yoon. All are savvy and have played multiple years for seventh-year coach Amanda Combs Warford.

Gustafson was named the Offensive MVP of the recent 46th annual Sandy Berger Invitational at Canyon Hills High for her prowess on the attack, as the Vikings gained fourth place in the prestigious tournament, losing to the host Rattlers in the semifinals. In addition, DeLeon, junior goalie Kinsley Stephens, and sophomore Allison Hawthorne, who is the team’s leading scorer, were named to the all-tournament team.

Gustafson, in an interview during practice, did it reluctantly for the furtherance of the program. She dislikes individual attention, as Warford notes, and wants the focus to remain on the team. She carries a 4.6 GPA, so the academics will drive whatever she does in college next year.

The midfielder describes her awareness in a defensive sequence, where the ball can quickly move from offense to the other side: “I’m looking for where the other team is, who has the ball, and how I can support the person on the ball. And also I’m thinking what I’m going to do if I get the ball.”

“Sienna is, by far, the fittest person in our program—maybe in the county,” says her coach. Gustafson ran a 5:54 1600-meter in a preseason team trial. Speed alone doesn’t make a field hockey player, but Warford says her lead player has a sense of situations and is completely unselfish on the field. “She’s our playmaker. She plays in the center. She understands passing lanes, and she is the least greedy player. She would rather get an assist than a goal. She is very much a team player, and everyone looks up to her.”

Regarding DeLeon, the junior captain, Warford says, “She probably has the highest hockey IQ of any player on the team. So Pixie really understands when to earn a foul, when to hit the ball, and she understands the spacing on the field.”

About Yoon, the other senior captain: “She is very good at facilitating attack. She plays forward. She has already improved so much this season assisting, but she is already one of the best shooters on my team. Like, if it is on her reverse side, she can throw a tomahawk (a backward shot, though the stick is one-sided and must be turned over).”

Warford re-thought the direction of the program over the summer in her stated quest “to be in the Open Division finals this year”— the top eight teams by Power Rankings of the 20 teams in Div. 1 qualify for the prestigious Open playoffs — and slimmed down her roster to a lean, mean machine of 16 individuals to start the season. She moved JV “A” team members up for the Berger tourney to “reward them for the hard work they’ve put in.”