“This girl’s good.”
That was varsity girls soccer Coach Jacob Valadez’s first impression of freshman Brooke Neschleba.
Since the first day of the Los Altos High School girls soccer tryouts, Brooke’s talent has left coaches and players in awe. Brooke started playing the game when she was five years old, starting at a recreational league, the American Youth Soccer Organization, and moved to the Mountain View-Los Altos (MVLA) Soccer Club as she got older.
Despite being a freshman, Brooke’s years of soccer experience and incredible technical skills earned her a spot on LAHS’s varsity team.
For Valadez, a positive mindset and a driven attitude are key to every player he brings onto the team. Seeing Brooke’s competitive drive and her ability to fit in with a mature group, Valadez felt confident giving Brooke a shot.
“Brooke approaches [training and games] with a focused mentality, and she’s not afraid of a challenge,” Valadez said.
Adjusting to playing against older and more experienced girls has pushed Brooke to become a better player, however, she never lets any obstacle deter her.
“She’s going up against some girls — seniors, 6 feet tall or over — but I never see her back down from that challenge,” Valadez said.
Although Valadez describes her on-field play as competitive and serious, Brooke had no trouble fitting in right away with the rest of the girls off the field.
“She has the best attitude,” junior Anya Lin said. “We all love her so it was super easy to integrate her into the team.”
For Brooke, the love for her teammates is mutual.
“The practice environment is really fun and it’s just a fun team to be around,” Brooke said.
In addition to being an incredible teammate, Brooke is also an important asset to the team’s success. A dominant force in midfield, she is known for her never-ending work ethic, sharp passes and awareness on the field.
Although Brooke spends most of her year playing for MVLA, a local and national powerhouse club, she takes the high school setting just as seriously.
“Not everybody in high school is trying the whole time, but it’s awesome that Brooke is always working super hard on offense and defense,” Anya said.
With three more seasons of high school soccer ahead, with more goals to be scored, more assists to be made and more defenders to blow by, it’s a bright future for Brooke.
