GILROY—Over the last four years Tayler Silacci has been earning her stripes. The Gilroy High senior has spent countless mornings getting up before sunrise and has travelled across the country attending camps and tournaments all to earn a field hockey scholarship.
On Monday, Silacci’s hard work paid off.
In a room filled with family—including her 92-year-old grandfather—friends, teammates and coaches, Silacci achieved a dream she’s had since she was 4 years old: signing with a Division I university. She signed her letter of intent to play field hockey for the University of Pacific next season behind a sea of black and orange tiger striped balloons.
“It’s actually such a joy and I feel so privileged to have her (go to Pacific),” Tayler’s mom Kendra Silacci said. “She’s worked so hard in the classroom and on the field. Tayler definitely deserves it.”
The 4-year-old Tayler imagined she’d be playing soccer in college, but that dream changed when she was convinced to tryout for the field hockey team her freshman year. She went in with no expectations, but earned a spot on the varsity roster. The biggest challenge for Tayler was the expectations she put on herself, but said her senior teammates helped her learn and master the game.
“I knew I was the worst player on the team and it was really hard to stay with it. I’m really glad I did,” she said. “The girls, of course, were motivating and were like ‘you can do it, you can do it.’ Even starting my sophomore year, a senior Monica (Marrazzo) talked to me and she really helped me throughout this whole process. She was committed to Cal her senior year and I was just a little sophomore. It made it a lot easier when she was here, but it was still really hard.”
In the four years she’s been with the Mustangs, Tayler flourished into a leader on the field and was named a captain her junior and senior years. But her skills didn’t just develop overnight. It took getting up a 5 a.m. for tournaments—fueled by McDonald’s breakfast sandwiches—putting in triple-day practices and flying across the country to play with the country’s elite field hockey players to make her dream a reality.
“She’s the one that made it happen the most,” Tayler’s dad Don Silacci said. “I can pay as much money as I want and I can get her on any flight to get her to any state, but she has to go out there and play the games. She went out there and after years of hard work, it finally paid off. I’m very excited for her.”
Tayler is joining a Tigers squad that’s on the rise. Under the direction of second year coach Andy Smith, Pacific went 7-13 this season—it’s best finish since going 7-11 in 2007. The Tigers’ record certainly didn’t discourage Tayler’s decision; if anything, it made her want to join them more.
“The team had a history of not being as good, but this coach wants to win. I love it; I want to win,” she said. “Being at Gilroy, we play (Archbishop) Mitty and St. Francis and we’re kind of the underdogs—so is Pacific. I like being the underdog.”
Adding to the excitement is that Pacific is just under a two-hour drive from Gilroy. The Silacci family proudly donned orange Tigers apparel with intentions of wearing it watch Tayler in action next season.
“If she went too far, I probably would not be able to deal with it,” Kendra said with a laugh.
Don was equally excited and recalled when Tayler took her first trip sans parents—a 10-day trip to Florida—and came back with her mind made up about where she was going to school.
“She came back and she said ‘Dad, I am not leaving the state of California to go to college’ and I was like ‘Yes! Yes! Thank you so much’,” Don said. “So yeah, we couldn’t be more excited for her being close to home.”
Tayler said she’s looking forward to joining the Tigers next season and travelling with them for competition all over the country. What started as a dream became reality through hard work and dedication and Tayler said she’s still in disbelief that her long journey has led to this.
“It’s crazy. We always talked about soccer and going Division I, but you’re a little kid, you don’t know and don’t think it’s ever really going to happen,” she said. “Come sophomore year, junior year I’m thinking that this is really possible, I can actually do this. Pacific gave me the opportunity and I’m so grateful for it.”
