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 Cabrillo Athletics is sponsored by the Cohn Family.
The Cabrillo boys’ soccer team is no stranger to keeping their name in the conversation when it comes to being one of the Moore league’s top teams.
So, after missing the playoffs last season for the first time since the 2016-2017 campaign, the Jaguars are ready to bounce back from that disappointing feeling.
Leading Cabrillo since the turn of the 21st century, Patrick Noyes is at the helm ready to lead the team again as he enters what he says will be his final year of teaching, but also possibly his last year of coaching after more than four decades across the high school and college ranks.
Noyes is looking forward to this year’s group that he’s looking to be defined by toughness, accountability, and a return to the demanding culture that built Cabrillo’s most successful years.
“We’ve definitely gone back to that harder-working, being-able-to-take-criticism culture,” Noyes said. “The last few years it wasn’t like that, but this year’s group has embraced it.”
A major part of that shift has come from the roster itself. Cabrillo brings a mixed but competitive lineup into the season, featuring six starting seniors, two freshmen, two juniors, and a sophomore who all earned key roles through a gritty offseason.
Senior returners like Alan Fuentes (left) continue to bring stability, while younger players who logged heavy minutes last year have stepped seamlessly into bigger responsibilities. But perhaps the most intriguing additions are the two freshmen arriving from Stephens Middle School, both high-level club players who have quickly impressed coaches and veterans.
One of those freshmen is Anthony Ponce who will be joined by veterans like Jardiel Ponce, Fidel Perez, and Nelson Beltran.
“They’re very good players,” Noyes said of the freshman newcomers.. “Two of our few true club players, and they’ve worked really hard.”
Fuentes is excited about this year’s team and says the mixture of youth and experience has changed the team’s energy heading into the year.
“Honestly, I’m just ready to play,” Fuentes said. “It’s a good group of kids we have. Yeah, it’s a young team, but I’m ready to get the season rolling, start off how we finished last year, and just pray for the best and ball out this season.”
That work ethic was sharpened in the fall, when many of the players, including several of the top newcomers ran cross country. Noyes encourages the crossover as a way of building mental toughness. The Jaguars’ best runners this season were almost entirely soccer players, including standout junior Finell Perez.
“I tell them running three miles is easy, but racing three miles is not easy,” Noyes said with a laugh. “I wanted to see who could suffer a little, and they showed it.”
Fuentes said the younger players have not only bought into that expectation but have also brought new tools to the field.
“The two younger kids we have up top – it’s going to be good games with them,” he said. “They can play. I’m just trying to play off them, do what I can to assist them and help them be bright.”.
“They have speed, so I hope we can take advantage of that—how quick they are and how they move off the ball,” Fuentes added. “They’re both left-footed, so that’s nice. I’m expecting a lot, but not too much. Just trying to help them any way I can and hope for the best season.”
After their 3-0 opening win against CAMS, the Jaguars take their traditional trip to Avalon before entering their tough non-league schedule that includes Calabasas, Santa Ana, Los Alamitos, Godinez, and the Huntington Beach Tournament.
“I set us up to either sink or swim,” Noyes said. “We’re not going to win everything, but it’s about being tough enough when league comes.”
Fuentes still thinks about missing the playoffs but says it has only fueled this year’s group, after finishing the season with three wins against some of the league’s best.
“We ended the season pretty good,” he said. “We beat the teams we needed to beat. We were unlucky and didn’t make it, but we’ve seen that we’re able to put the work in, and we’ve seen we can get the results. So we just need to keep that same mentality this season and hopefully pray for the best.”
