By Ed Piper
Amanda Combs Warford, La Jolla High's seventh-year field hockey coach, says she is going to rely heavily on her leaders on attack and defense: on attack, seniors Sienna Gustafson and Lizzie Yoon, and junior Pixie DeLeon; and on defense, senior Olivia Snider.
Q: What is the season outlook?
Combs Warford: "For the season, I think we're really going to have a strong season. We have the strongest team we've ever had at La Jolla.
"First, we're going to Del Norte for the scrimmage day, and we're playing all DI/Open Division teams. So, that'll be a good (indicator) where we're at. I expect to do pretty well. And the following week, we scrimmage Canyon Crest Academy. Rachel, my old freshman/JV coach, is now the head coach there. So we scheduled a scrimmage so we could see each other.
"Then, Friday of next week (Aug. 18), we drive up to Huntington Beach. They have a really good program. We'll be scrimmaging up there against their teams."
Q: What does league look like?
It has always been more the power conference, the Western League. All our teams are Open Division and Division 1. So, the normal La Jolla/Canyon Hills/Scripps/Cathedral/Bishop's. And then Patrick Henry used to be in our league. They bumped them to the Eastern League. And University City, they won Division 2 last year, so they moved them to Division 1, and they bumped them up to our league.
Q: Do you automatically enter in Open Division, or does it happen at playoff time?
It's done at the end. There are 20 teams who are Division 1 at the start of the season, and the top eight in the rankings are the Open Division teams.
Q: Tell me about your leaders on offense and defense.
Sienna Gustafson is my returning captain. She's, by far, the most fit person in our athletic program. She'll be our strong lead in the midfield. She has great vision on the field. Really, really not-selfish player. Good passer and assist person. She gets a lot of assists.
Next leader on attack would be Lizzie Yoon.
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