Put together the athletes from the powerhouse Gilroy High field hockey program and the athletes from crosstown powerhouse Christopher High. And what do you get? A club hockey team that can rock the state and shock the country. Which they just did.
The Infinity club of Gilroy traveled to southern California during the Memorial Day weekend and captured the prestigious California Cup tournament title in the Women’s U19 division.
In the first two days, Infinity romped through pool play with four shutout wins. In the semifinals, they smashed the HTC CA Burritos of San Diego 3-0 to move to the championship match. In the title game, Infinity shut down VCRD of Ventura 1-0.
“The Cal Cup is very competitive,” midfielder Ella Miura said. “There are teams from different states and even other countries. Everyone comes just to play and win.”
Infinity, coached by Gilroy coach Adam Gemar and Christopher coach Dani Hemeon Perez, has a lineup of eight Cougars, seven Mustangs and one rising freshman. The best players from both schools are sprinkled all over the lineup.
Opponents are similarly stacked. In pool play, Infinity opened competition on May 24 with a 7-0 whipping of the SoCal Whipits and a 1-0 victory over HTC CA Blue of San Diego. The next day, Infinity smashed Peak Colorado of Colorado Springs by a 7-0 count and ended the day by rolling 3-0 over the Knights from San Marcos (near San Diego).
On May 26, Infinity took the field against the high finishers in the other two pools.
“Passing was super important,” midfielder/forward Annelise Lerma said. “Defending as a team and winning 1v1 battles are important.”
Miura, who led Christopher with 19 goals this past season, cited staying cool and calm and playing Infinity’s style as keys to success.
“Adam and Dani have us play a calm, relaxed style,” Miura said. “Some teams just whack the ball down the field.”
Infinity plays a 3-5-2 formation, echoing what Gemar does at Gilroy High.
“We do a lot of reverse chips,” Lerma said. “We push the ball around the back. Both schools do. We bring those strategies to Infinity.”
The two defenders in the back were Christopher’s Alyssa Montejano and Sophie Gonzalez.
The midfield was led by Miura, Addison Tait and Hailey Moncada. On the outside were Lerma (13 goals last year) and Brooke Baza.
Up front, Infinity featured Gilroy goal leader Kamryn Krejdovsky (18 goals last season), along with Allisa Schwender and Ryan Hemeon (12 goals last fall). Depth was provided by Alex Pires, Bre Hahn, Colette Boyd, Emmie Mendez and Reese Dubenko. Lea Kim was in goal.
“Addi Tait has the ability to control the game defensively and transition into offense so quickly,” Gemar said. “Kami (Krejdovsky) is a true power forward, a game changer. She has the ability to maintain constant pressure in the offensive zone with her stick skills.
“Ella (Miura) is so smooth on the ball and can control play at the top of the offensive circle. Lis (Annelise Lerma) is great at off-ball tracking and can win defensive balls and turn ‘D’ to ‘O’ so quickly. Alyssa (Montejano) plays such quality defense and is so smart on the ball. She has great ability to ‘see’ the field.”
Miura stated that Kim’s play in goal was spectacular. She said that Kim was the primary reason Infinity gave up zero goals in all six matches.
Kim is a rising junior at Gilroy and her Mustang teammates on Infinity were Tait, Schwender, Lerma, Baza, Moncada and Krejdovsky. The Cougars crew included Pires, Montejano, Boyd, Miura, Mendez, Dubenko, Hemeon and Gonzalez.
“There was never a problem mixing the girls from the two schools,” Miura said. “Both teams have such great leadership. It was great having all the leaders together.”
In the championship match, Miura started the winning play. She passed it between defenders to Lerma, who shot it on goal. As in high-level ice hockey, the goal came on a tip from a player (Dubenko) in front of the goal. Dubenko commented that the play came a little more than halfway through the game, after a segment where Montejano and Gonzalez made key plays to hold the fort and keep things scoreless.
“When the whistle was blown (to initiate the corner play), I ran to the right side of the goal, stick ready and prepared,” Dubenko said. “I was positioned as a tipper, standing at the post of the goal. I saw the white ball fly in the air from a pass by Lis (Annelise Lerma), which deflected off of the opposing team’s stick, leading me to lift my stick in the air and push the ball from the air into the goal.”
The tally put Infinity up 1-0. Dubenko said there was not really a celebration at the time, as much of the game remained. The Infinity players came together and tapped sticks as usual and then returned back to their positions as the contest resumed.
“After the goal, we tried to keep possession in the offensive side, especially in the corners,” Lerma said. “We had to stay focused. There was a period of about 10 minutes where they pressured us heavily. At the end, it was a mixture of happiness and relief. I’m very happy for our team. To have this win with these girls.”
After the clock hit zeroes, the team ran over to Kim for a celebration.
“No one expects a team from Gilroy to win these kinds of things,” Miura said. “It means even more. It puts us on a stage and on the radar for the younger girls. Beating a team from down there (San Diego) means a lot, as they are very focused on field hockey down there.”
Lerma noted how opponents would sometimes ask where Gilroy is. They’re learning now. The U19 title was Infinity’s second in the last three years, with a championship in 2023 and a third-place finish in 2024.
“It was an amazing way to send our seniors (Tait, Schwender, Lerma, Baza, Miura, Gonzalez) off, as they will be heading out to bigger and better challenges,” coach Gemar said. “They all play such a critical role in our program.”
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