The562’s coverage of Long Beach Poly Athletics for the 2025-26 school year is sponsored by Former Jackrabbits Wendell “WoWo” Moe, Jr. & Tyson Ruffins.
The562’s high school soccer coverage for the 2025-26 season is sponsored by Long Beach Poly soccer alum Kennedy Justin.
The Long Beach Poly girls’ soccer team is coming off a season to remember–they won the Moore League championship, made it to the CIF Southern Section championship, and secured a historic state berth as well. The engine driving that season was a strong senior class that graduated players to multiple NCAA rosters, and included the Moore League Defensive Player of the Year, Midfielder of the Year, Goalkeeper of the Year, five first-team All-Moore League honorees and two second-team all-league reps.
In other words: Poly lost a lot, and head coach Angel Zavala will have to do some re-arranging to prepare for the 2025-26 season.
“Right now I need to see everybody show up–practice, games, ready to go, ready to fight for a spot and for a win,” he said. “Every spot is open, we’ve got a ton of new players and they’re entering a whole new beast and they have to be ready for it. At the end of the day whoever shows up is going to win the game. It’s exciting but it’s definitely going to be a big test for us.”
The team is short on seniors, especially after the heartbreaking ACL injury suffered by Trinity Hamilton, expected to be one of the top players in the league this year. Hamilton has remained in a leadership role for the team and will still serve as a captain.
The team will rely on its other seniors including Joanna Rodriguez, Lillie Hudak, Zadie Kuykendall, and Rosa Mallach.
“More than half our team is sophomores, and we’re going to be comfortable building around them where we need to,” said Zavala. “The way it’s always been at Long Beach Poly is that whoever shows up and is the best is going to be there. It doesn’t matter if you’re a sophomore, if you’re showing up and showing out and our captains are seeing it too, then that’s what we’re doing.”
Leading the way for that talented sophomore class is Lily Montecinos, who will likely be in the center midfield spot for the Jackrabbits. Montecinos was a valuable contributor on varsity last year as a freshman, and scored one of Poly’s two goals alongside Rodriguez in an impressive 2-0 scrimmage win last night over CIF-SS Division 1 Finalist Troy.
“We need to work on connecting and building more cohesion with all of us since we’re so new together, but we have the talent to do it if we all work together,” said Montecinos.
Rodriguez will be in the middle with Montecinos, with both able to score as well as defend. Keepers Kuykendall and Elyse Stegall are battling for the starting spot in goal, a situation that Zavala said is common across the roster, with lots of spots up for grabs. Hudak will likely anchor the defense as the team’s center back, with Naima Galbreath, Rylee Zavala, Emma Espinoza, and Kamelah Artiaga all in the mix for back row or midfield spots.
Up top, the best options include Wendy Luis and Callista Berquist.
“I’m excited for the year,” said Montecinos. “We’re going to build on what we did last year with a lot of new people and younger players. There’s a lot of new players but also a lot of talent.”
Zavala’s excitement about his team’s potential is clear from the way he scheduled. In addition to the scrimmage against Division 1 finalist Troy last night (a 2-0 win for Poly), the Jackrabbits will also face JSerra, Los Alamitos, and Laguna Beach in their nonleague before opening up the always-tough Moore League schedule, with every other team hungry to knock the Jackrabbits off the top spot.
“We come in as defending champions and we worked very hard for that,” said Zavala. “It’s just one of those things now–every game is a battle and you have to fight until that final whistle, don’t let up on the gas. We have to stay focused, hungry, and motivated.”
