High school soccer continues to see players coming and going

Welcome to another high school football season in which so many boy and girl players come and go that you’ll have to make a phone call or text the head coach to confirm who is playing or competing for a club team, national team, or training with a professional team.

It’s not chaos, just another sign of the many options Southern California’s elite players must consider, and playing high school soccer isn’t exactly the No. 1 priority in the minds of USA Soccer, club teams, college programs and professional teams.

The example of Santa Margarita’s best senior players, goalie Peyton Trayer and forward Coral Fry, may be the future. They helped the Eagles win the Southern Section Open Division championship as juniors. This season, they will play for Santa Margarita this month until leaving in January to join their respective college programs – North Carolina and Tennessee. Each said seven recruits from their future college teams would also leave high school early.

“For me, it’s a huge advantage to go in the spring, start classes and get acclimated to the environment, practice a semester in advance with the team and do the strength and conditioning necessary to be ready for my freshman season,” Trayer said.

Fry said, “The higher level of training is going to help me a lot by the time the college season rolls around. »

Trayer and three other players got into trouble last season when they went to a professional team practice in Brazil and were declared ineligible midway through the high school season for violating CIF Rule 600.

Under CIF rules, players cannot play on a club team and a high school team simultaneously. There are also USA Soccer commitments in the middle of the high school season and many club teams don’t let students play both. For girls and boys, they are not allowed to try out with a professional team during their high school season.

“It’s a ripple effect,” Santa Margarita coach Craig Bull said. “It’s really the professional clubs that are driving this. I’m from Europe. We graduate from high school at 16 and you sign a professional contract if you’re good enough and you train five days a week, whereas you’re 16 to 18 here, playing club and high school soccer, training two or three days. It’s about America keeping up with the rest of the world.”

Seven coaches from teams Santa Margarita will face in non-league games this season told Bull they have players choosing not to play high school football.

To help replace Trayer and Fry after December, Santa Margarita has one of the nation’s top juniors in UCLA commit Mia Corona, who is expected to join the team in January. She missed last season training with professional teams and hopes to be done with her training for the latter part of the high school season.

Remember how Harvard-Westlake was without the Thompson sisters, Alyssa and Gisele, for much of their four years of high school. Alyssa turned pro her senior year and both signed with Nike in 2022. “There is so much talent in Southern California,” Harvard-Westlake coach Richard Simms said.

The good news for the Wolverines this season is that their two best players are available. Leading scorer Kaia Santomarco-King is a Colorado commit and goalie Sasha Selvaggio is an Ohio State commit 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-level teams.

Boys’ teams delayed scheduling games until after a major club tournament last weekend in San Diego and the MLS Next tournament in Arizona this week.

Cathedral goalkeeper Peter Cornejo attended the FIFA U-17 World Cup in November to represent El Salvador.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

“We just go with what we have,” Loyola coach Chris Walter said. “It’s a difficult situation. I don’t think it’s fair that student-athletes have to make decisions. They should be able to play at their school or at the highest level possible.”

Loyola has a standout player, Cody Davis, who hasn’t played high school football since his freshman season. He is committed to Loyola Marymount and will not play again this season in high school. Loyola’s best returning player is Josh Gallagher. Birmingham lost their brothers Carlos and Christian Esnal, who decided to continue playing in Uruguay. Robert Mejia joins the team after never playing in high school before. “He’s really good,” coach Gus Villalobos said.

Give credit to those who stick with high school football and try to prove that you can still be an elite player.

Defending City section champion El Camino Real and long-time rival Birmingham are set to face off again for the City boys title. In the southern section, Cathedral returns nine players, including goalkeeper Peter Cornejo, who appeared in the Under-17 World Cup representing El Salvador. The annual Loyola vs. Cathedral nonleague game is scheduled for Dec. 9 at Loyola.

JSerra is the reigning Southern Section Open Division boys champion and is expected to face competition from Mater Dei, Cathedral, Bishop Amat, Orange Lutheran and Palos Verdes.

Meanwhile, CIF coaches and officials must develop a plan to find ways to keep their elite players competing for their high schools.

CIF Executive Director Ron Nocetti said schools have failed to change or get rid of Regulation 600 because it affects all sports and would create additional problems. “We regularly contact various football organizations to work with them,” he said.

World Cup participant Trinity Rodman attended JSerra but never played high school soccer after playing for Corona del Mar her freshman year.

“These girls need both,” Bull said. “They love high school football [and] what it brings and they love the club [and] what it brings. We need to find a way to do both.