Happy Warriors: Westcliff is Cal Pac’s Best Again

By Brandon Petersen

A happy player is at her best.

It's a theory that Westcliff head coach Jack Gidney and his staff adopted in crafting the culture of Westcliff Women's Soccer.

Saturday night at Soka University, as Jysabella Tolentino sent a pinpoint pass left through the box to a streaking Jordyn Gather, who tapped it brilliantly into net at the 87-minute, 24-second mark of a previously scoreless Cal Pac championship game, the theory proved correct.

"I saw an amazing through pass," Westcliff keeper Kayli Cokley said. "And then I saw Jordyn take her first touch – it was gold. Jordyn did her job. She followed through. And I was like, 'Oh my gosh, Jordyn Gather, you are our team savior. I need to get down there and celebrate!'"

And that's just what she did.

Sprinting downfield in her golden cleats, Cokely joined her teammates as they mobbed Gather, bouncing in shared jubilation and exalting a fevered chorus into the frigid night air.

Two years off a stunning, 1-0 Cal Pac tournament championship win over highly-favored Embry Riddle, the Warriors ran it back, this time taking down UC Merced in its last Cal Pac match ever.

The Warriors better strap on their shades.

The future is looking awfully bright.

And who would have thought that to be the case after the Warriors were counted out by almost everyone coming off an injury-plagued 2023 in which they didn't perform to expectations?

The Warriors, and the Warriors alone, that's who.  

"So, our team listened to this podcast at the beginning of the year, it was about our (regular season) UC Merced game that was coming up," Cokley said. "We were predicted to lose.

"Coming into this game, (Cal Pac co-champion) UC Merced was the first seed. That gave us an even bigger chip on our shoulder. We had nothing to lose. We had to prove everyone wrong – we are the No. 1 team.

"We are the champions."

For her part, Cokley was brilliant.

Racking up nine saves on a night in which the Bobcats controlled the flow for 80 minutes, everyone on hand understood that Cokley was the most important player on the field.

When asked if she felt that pressure, she dismissed the thought with a knowing smile.

"Not really, I felt calm," Cokley said. "I have so much trust in my back line, I mean, we were ranked No. 1 in the nation."

Westcliff's vaunted keeper is just one of number of players Gidney found in the offseason who were formerly underappreciated parts of much bigger programs.

"They're amazing," Cokley said of the Westcliff coaching staff. "I have nothing but great things to say about them. Coming from a school where I wasn't believed in, I was always brought down, and degraded, I came to a coaching staff that was uplifting, bright and cheerful.

"Every day you are waking up looking forward to practice. They make every training great, fun and impactful. Especially Paige (Brandt), shout out to my girl – I've grown so much as a keeper with her."

The Warriors finished with just two shots in each half, while Merced collected 14 total.

The foul battle was relatively even with Westcliff chalking up four more (16) than the Bobcats, but both sides were awarded two yellow cards.

As for corners, there was only one set piece in the contest, and it belonged to the Bobcats.

But the Warriors understood this was the way the game was likely to play out.

After a regular season scoreless tie in which the defense held, but the offense failed to produce any pressure up top, the Warriors had to come together to figure out how to overcome their rivals.

"The last time we played Merced we didn't have enough of a threat," Gidney said. "So, we had to discuss as a group – and it was the first time, really, that we had done it as a staff (with the players involved) – we sat in a room and we said, 'How are we going to do this?'

"And (the players) pitched in, and we talked, and we broke the game into thirds. So, you saw us sit with a flat three – frustrate. Then they started to gamble, and we thought, 'OK, now maybe we can start to catch' and we start to enter two. And then we went one a little higher than the one. And it paid off.

"And, as much as you may want to call that coaching – and I may have gotten the individual awards – (the players) were part of that discussion. So, the strength of their success is them. It is them. They are unbelievable. And they have this thing where they don't think anyone is going to beat them – ever."

Thus far, no one has.

Not even the Bobcats, who, as a unit, were bigger, faster and stronger, but never able to find net.

Part of the reason was Jaida Wilson, a formerly underappreciated, highly talented halfback Gidney identified to help bring Westcliff back to championship form.

Not only Saturday night, but also against Soka in the semifinals – another razor thin margin at 1-0 – Wilson denied attacker after attacker with her tall, athletic frame, and helped produce two championship-winning clean sheets with her incredible soccer IQ.

Gather, meanwhile, made the late switch to the offensive end and dropped in just in time for the cross of Tolentino's career thus far, and expertly deked the keeper before clapping net. Again, underappreciated elsewhere, Gather found a home at Westcliff and has been an absolute superstar.

"We go and get broken parts of (other teams) right off," Gidney said. "Jaida Wilson is a Division I player. She is unbelievable. And you saw it in the last three big games. You see why she is a Division I player. People said, 'She's not good enough.' She's unbelievable. Jordyn Gather. Incredible. Kayli. Unbelievable. You know, people write these kids off. For what? For what? It's nonsense.

"So, we take these types of players, and (our culture is) a happy player is the best player. And if they're all happy, again, they believe in us, and we believe in them, and then you go, 'We might be able to do it, you know?'

"And look at the year they had."

Said Cokley: "I'm really proud of these girls. As long as this team sticks together, we are going places."

Going places, they are.

Most likely, the East Coast.

The Warriors will gear up for the NAIA national tournament next.

Two years ago, Westcliff was placed opposite of overall No. 1 seed Kaiser and played at 6 a.m. West Coast time.

After finishing an undefeated season with a regular season and tournament championship in tow, hopefully the Warriors will garner a little more respect from the committee this time around.

Either way, the Warriors' postseason seeding will be announced on the NAIA women's soccer selection show Nov. 16 at 11 a.m.

The men's show follows at noon, where Westcliff's No. 16 ranked men's team could be selected as well.