The562’s high school soccer coverage for the 2025-26 season is sponsored by Long Beach Poly soccer alum Kennedy Justin.
The562’s coverage of Millikan Athletics for the 2025-26 school year is sponsored by Brian Ramsey and TLD Law.
When looking back at the 2024-25 boys’ soccer season, few teams in the nation could compete with Millikan’s win total.
The Rams’ 23-3-2 overall record earned them a spot in the Division 1 playoffs, and their dominance over the super competitive Moore League was something to behold. The Rams went 10-0-2 against their local rivals, ending the season 12 points clear of the second-place side.
“Last year, obviously, was a huge success,” said Millikan head coach Jeff Schofield. “You always come into the season with high expectations, but in terms of our regular season, we far exceeded it. And in league, the second place team was 12 points behind us. That’s a four-win gap between us and the next group, so that was a huge thing. And obviously the guys last year were really motivated to do that, and this will be a different group, but I think we’ve got enough quality in the program that we always have some guys that can step in.”
Even with some key players graduating off last year’s squad, Millikan is more about reloading than they are rebuilding these days. After experiencing a dry spell from 2019-22 that saw an entire graduating class go through Millikan without winning a Moore League boys’ soccer title (the first time that had happened since 1991), the Rams have taken the top spot the past three seasons and have the quality and depth to make it four in a row.
The only thing that’s eluded the Rams in recent seasons has been playoff success. In nearly every season, Millikan has played some of the area’s best in the Division 1 bracket, and Schofield is focused on keeping his team in a position to compete with the best.
“I think for us as a program, consistency is the key,” said Schofield. “We want to make sure that we’re competing for Moore League titles every year, and that obviously has happened the last few years, and the playoffs just become such a wild card. Last year we played on that rainy day, and there were puddles everywhere, and it was just…that wasn’t even a soccer game. Which is a bummer, because that team last year had the chance to really do something.”
Leading the way for the Rams this year will be senior Ivan Cervantes Vega, who’s played just about every minute for Millikan the past two seasons. Schofield can’t say enough good things about him, and believes that if he can help the Rams to another league title this year, he should be regarded as one of the all-time great Millikan soccer players.
The only issue is figuring out the best place to play him and how to most effectively utilize his skills. Whether in the midfield, at right back, or somewhere else, expect to see No. 4 making an impact.
“He’s obviously a defensive force, but he’s so good that we’re seeing if there’s ways that we can get him a little bi more involved,” Schofield explained. “He’s going to be one of those guys that’s got a couple positions, and based on how the game’s going, we might move them into some different spots.”
Cervantes Vega credits his coach for creating a comfortable setting for his players to compete and thrive, and he’s excited about how the team is coming together with capable younger players filling in around him.
“(Schofield’s) mentality is, if your players are happy, they will listen. He will be tough when he needs to be tough, but in reality, he lets us be in our own mellow, have our own chemistry, and figure it out ourselves,” Cervantes Vega said. “I think Scofield has done an amazing job of keeping us together as a family. And I think this year, our specialty will be in our underclassmen, the juniors and sophomores that are going to be stepping up to help us out.”
With Cervantes Vega holding down the right side of Millikan’s defense, there’s another returning First Team All-Moore League selection on the left side in senior Pablo Lica. He’s a lefty who can not only defend, but connect passes and get the Rams into their offense quickly.
In goal to start the season will be junior Isaiah Juarez, but Millikan will have great depth at that position for years to come. Sophomore Kirby Sheets is a 6-foot-3 transfer from St. Anthony, who is a terrific prospect in goal and should step into the lineup after waiting out the transfer sit-out period. Sheets was an All-League performer for the Saints last year as a freshman, but lives near Millikan and wanted to play high school ball with his friends, according to Schofield.
Junior midfielder Bernardo Torres was a Second Team All-Moore League performer as a 10th grader, and should be a driving force in that spot once again as a two-way player who can attack and defend.
Seniors Vonnae Ocegueda and Jaycob Alfaro Plascencia bring experience playing forward and as midfielders, and are both capable goal scorers for the Rams. They’re also a couple of rare seniors in the Starting 11 for Millikan, who’ve got the youngest team of Coach Schofield’s tenure with a loaded junior class.
Part of that junior group is striker Wylan Gohn, who was Millikan’s second-leading scorer a season ago behind Moore League Player of the Year Juan Vasquez. But Gohn is a well-qualified successor as the main target of the offense, with the speed, size, and technical ability that will allow him to score in a number of different ways.
The Rams will again take part in the Huntington Beach Tournament starting Dec. 4 against Schurr, and will host games against Segerstrom (Dec. 10) and Lynwood (Dec. 16) in nonleague play.
Millikan’s Moore League opener is a big one, visiting the Wilson Bruins on Jan. 5 in a match between the league’s top two teams from a season ago.
