A quarterback, a soccer standout, a lacrosse champion: Laurel Gonzalez is a legit triple threat loading up on athletic and academic accolades.The Torrey Pines High School senior was named last spring’s CIF Player of the Year in lacrosse, the Player of the Year in Flag Football in the fall and Player of the Year in soccer in the winter after helping her team win the open division championship. She is the first San Diego athlete to win Player of the Year in three different sports. Currently playing in the lacrosse season’s playoffs to defend last year’s championship, Laurel was also recently named the Torrey Pines Female Scholar Athlete of the Year. Laurel Gonzalez, Torrey Pines Female Scholar Athlete of the Year. (Anna Scipione) “Laurel is unquestionably an outstanding athlete and it has been my pleasure to witness her growth into also becoming an exceptional leader,” said Martyn Hansford, Torrey Pines soccer coach. “Laurel epitomizes all of the values and attributes that any coach would want in a player. Her calm demeanor and quiet confidence is infectious and has been key to our success; especially in times of adversity in which the very best athletes find a way to lead their team to victory. What always stood out for me during the time I got to coach Laurel is the joy she has playing sport and being a part of a team.”This fall, Laurel will be playing Big Ten lacrosse at Johns Hopkins.Growing up in a family of “sports fanatics,” from a young age Laurel was signed up for nearly every sport or activity possible. She picked up sports easily and enjoyed playing and watched her older sisters play from the sidelines, often tossing a football around with her dad.She played soccer for the Del Mar/Carmel Valley Sharks before switching to San Diego Force, playing for the 2005 and 2004 squads. She also started playing rec lacrosse when she was in first grade.“All along I was so interested in soccer, it was my dream,” said Laurel. “I wanted to be on the US Women’s National Team and that’s what I thought I was going to do in college until ninth grade and I realized ‘I’m kind of good at lacrosse’ and then lacrosse became my main sport.”From recreational lacrosse, Laurel started playing club lacrosse in sixth grade. She played for West Coast Stars which became Coast Lacrosse and then got recruited to play for Mad Dog West Elite.With Mad Dog, Laurel has had the opportunity to bolster her lacrosse skills by traveling and playing a lot on the East Coast in tournaments and summer camps: “It’s a whole different game over there,” she said.As a midfielder, Laurel said her strengths are her game IQ and her vision. “I do a lot of off-ball movement, I’m not necessarily a ball-controller. I move more off the ball and can be more savvy,” she said.On May 3, the savvy midfielder hit her 200th goal in her lacrosse high school career.While Laurel had stopped playing club soccer as a sophomore to shift her focus to lacrosse, she continued playing soccer for the Falcons. As a “ball dominant” forward, she was one of the team’s leading scorers.One of the great moments in her high school career was winning the Division 1 championship in 2022—she had been playing JV and was brought up halfway through the season to the varsity squad. “I even scored a couple goals in the championship game,” Laurel offered.Let the record show Laurel actually had a hat trick in the upset victory.As happily busy with sports as she is, Laurel had time to take part in a really fun inaugural girls flag football season this fall. She had previous football experience playing Friday Night Lights as a youngster, a member of the Carmel Valley league’s first-ever all girls team: “It was so cool to go out with my dad as my coach and play the boys at my school and plenty of times beat them,” she recalls.Laurel was the starting quarterback for the Falcons, who were undefeated on the season and made it all the way to the championship game where they sadly lost for the first time. “It was still a good run,” Laurel said. “I always loved football …the opportunity to actually play in high school was great.”When it came to playing at the next level, Laurel was down to three big and amazing top choices between Harvard, Cornell and Johns Hopkins.Playing for the Blue Jays eventually won out as Johns Hopkins not only had the strong academics to set her up for success but a great energy on the lacrosse side. When visiting the school she felt really welcomed and impressed by the girls on the team.It will be very competitive in the Big Ten but she is very excited.While lacrosse has been a main focus, Laurel said by continuing to play a variety of sports rather than just specialize helped prepare her in every way as an athlete. She credits her stick skill strength in lacrosse to the hand-eye coordination she gained playing sports like basketball.“It helps develop you and make you more well-rounded,” she said. “It’s something every person should seek to do.”Several of her teammates are also multi-sport threats, like her Torrey Pines lacrosse teammate Camille Samarasinghe who played with Laurel on that all-girls flag football squad when they were younger.When asked what is one of her best memories playing in a Torrey Pines jersey, it is not an easy answer for Laurel.“I’m happy and sad to say that’s such a hard question,” Laurel said. “Definitely my favorite memory is is this past lacrosse season championship. I had a great game personally, I love lacrosse so much and I have some of my best friends on that team and it was our first win in while. Winning that was super special.”Torrey Pines is the top seed in the lacrosse playoffs and Laurel expects they might meet up with rival Coronado in the finals, that is if they get there—she is careful not to take anything for granted.She has high hopes for just one more championship to end her incredibly successful high school career: “That would top everything out.”



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