THE ENGINEER

By Brandon Petersen

Jysabella Tolentino didn't celebrate much when she scored her 20th career goal Sunday at La Sierra. She didn't race to the corner flag, didn't marinate in the praise of her teammates, no overt gestures or breakdowns into dance. Instead, she passed out high-fives and was deep in her own thoughts, mentally working out how she could have done more.

For Westcliff Women's Soccer, the moment was historic — Tolentino had just broken the all-time career goals record, passing Thea Sofie Kanestrom for first place in the program's history.

But for Tolentino herself, it was simply another bullet point in an ever-expanding resume which points to one undeniable truth: Tolentino knows where she is going, and she knows exactly how to get there.

Her coach, Jack Gidney, wasn't surprised Tolentino broke the record, because he knows Tolentino better than most.

"Driven. Perfectionist. Detailed," he said, rattling off traits like a scouting report. "She's got an edge to her. That's what makes her a good striker — because every striker has to have that little bit of, 'No, no, give it to me.' When the ball comes into the box, she's alive. She's a killer."

That edge, Gidney explained, shows up in every aspect of her life. From the first week of training, when she peppered Gidney's staff with questions, wanting every detail, every bit of information.

"She wants to know everything, and she wants to know it now," he said. "Sometimes we'd have to tell her, we'll get there, Jay. We'll get there."

It can make her seem relentless, even stubborn — but to Gidney, that relentlessness is exactly what makes her special.

"If you don't know her, it could be easy to say, 'This kid just won't let up,'" he said. "But she's not whining. She just wants to get everything right. And as a coach, how could you ask for anything more than that?"

He points to the Occidental game in which Tolentino tied Kanestrom with her 19^th goal. She could have walked off satisfied. Instead, she was frustrated — not because of what she had accomplished, but because of a different one-on-one chance she had missed.

"That's Jay in a nutshell," Gidney said. "Never enough. Always on to the next thing."

Even when Tolentino doesn't find the back of the net, her presence shapes the game. Last year, in the Cal Pac final against UC Merced, Tolentino never scored, but she led the line by herself for 89 minutes, pressing constantly, wearing down defenders until she slipped a pass that set up Jordyn Gather's winner.

"She comes up with other big moments," Gidney said. "She carries the edge for the team. She really drives everyone on."

Now, with 10 matches left to play in the regular season, her coach doesn't see her stopping at 20. "I'm looking at the games left and I think she could score 30," Gidney said.

Tolentino is constantly evolving because she is a perfectionist perpetually unsatisfied with the status quo.

That's the way Gidney frames her, and it's true — every story he tells ends with Tolentino pushing for more. But when she sat down to talk about her life, the reasons for that edge came into focus.

"My family comes from the Philippines," Tolentino said. "They immigrated here before I was born. I pretty much grew up in the (San Fernando) Valley."

Her childhood was rarely simple. She moved schools, searching for stability, and admits she didn't always know how to guide herself.

"I struggled with leading myself and putting myself in the right direction," she said. "I didn't really grow up with any type of role model to tell me right from wrong. I kind of had to figure it out on my own."

Soccer became her compass. "Honestly, I love it, but when I was younger it was just my way of living," she said. "It was the thing that kept me waking up every day."

The game gave her discipline, but it was her parents who gave her drive. Newly arrived immigrants, they demanded that their daughter work hard and learn to stand on her own. At the time, Tolentino didn't always understand it. Now, she's grateful.

"My parents were very tough on me," she said. "Not in a bad way where it was too much, but they pushed me to understand what I deserved and what I was capable of. At the time I didn't get it, but now I know why — they wanted me to be able to handle obstacles."

Even when they couldn't be at every game, their influence was never far away. "I knew that they were still there in spirit," Tolentino said. "Everything I have comes from their support."

Her voice caught as she spoke, searching for the right words. It wasn't easy to describe a chaotic childhood that only settled in her later high school years. But what emerged was clear: she grew up learning how to adapt, how to fight, and how to keep moving forward.

Having an older sister – Julia – even when it became at a distance, helped, especially the example she set. Making her way in a male-dominated industry, Julia had to be resilient, and her younger sister noticed. It's that same resilience Jay now wants to take into the male-dominated industries of healthcare or aerospace engineering.

"I've always admired [Julia's] resilience," Tolentino said. "She left for the Air Force during most of my high school years, and that was a huge adjustment for me.

"Now, though, we have an unbreakable bond, and I know she'll always be by my side, just like my parents and other siblings (brothers Jacob and Joshua). Family is such a big part of who I am, and the reason I'm able to keep pushing forward."

They never had much, but they gave each other everything they could. Tolentino's strength today is both a reflection of her sibling's love, and the tough self-reliance she forged herself through the challenges of going without.

Tolentino's scoring record was forged long before she ever stepped onto Westcliff's campus. It was born in the pressure of a household where her parents, new to this country, insisted on discipline and allowed Tolentino to walk her own path.

That gave Tolentino a foundational grit but also provided a relentless growth mindset.

When Tolentino finally learned what the program's career scoring record was, she didn't treat it as an idle benchmark. She made it a mission.

"Before coming to Westcliff, I had other goals in mind besides breaking the record," she said. "I honestly didn't even know what the record was coming in. But when I did find out, I knew that if I worked hard enough, I could break it.

"Last season I was five goals short. So, I knew this year it was all or nothing."

The moment came quietly, like most of her accomplishments. A finish in the box, a nod from teammates, history rewritten. For Tolentino, though, it wasn't just a personal milestone.

"It really does mean a lot," she said. "But again, all of my accomplishments wouldn't be possible if it weren't for the support of my teammates, and especially my parents. Those little reminders from them helped me remember that there are bigger things I'm playing for besides the personal goals."

At Westcliff, Tolentino found more than a soccer program. She found a community of teammates who understood what it meant to come from hard places and start over.

"Our team is close-knit because we hold a real respect and discipline for each other on and off the field," she said. "That creates openness and vulnerability instead of judgment, and it's a big reason we've grown so strong together."

Like many of her teammates, Tolentino transferred to Westcliff after stop-offs at other schools failed to meet her expectations.

As a Warrior, Tolentino became Gidney's first NAIA All American because his program gave her, and many other fellow transfers, competitive purpose for the first time at the collegiate level.

"It's not exactly trauma bonding," she said of the transfers' empathy for each other, "but it's that understanding of what it's like coming from a hostile or toxic area, and then finally finding peace with soccer here."

That collective bond has shaped the Warriors' team-wide mission.

"It goes beyond just wanting a ring," Tolentino said. "We're determined to make a deeper run at nationals than last year, and actually claim the higher seed we earned, especially after winning both the conference and Cal Pac Tournament in 2024 and still being under-seeded."

That's a team-wide chip planted firmly on the shoulder of each and every returning Warrior.

Underdogs in the NAIA, often overlooked by voters in love with larger programs, Westcliff continues to push for recognition. Naturally, Tolentino and the Warriors have embraced the label and succeeded in spite of it year after year.

Her life off the pitch reflects the same defiance of odds.

The first in her family to go directly to college, and the first to play a sport, she carried the weight of setting an example. "It really was a big deal for me because no one else in my family had ever done that," she said.

Now, she's raising the bar even higher.

"I'm currently studying computer science," she said. "I'm set on machine learning engineering or data science. My ambition after Westcliff is to be the first female Warrior student-athlete to become an engineer in healthcare or aerospace."

Tolentino admits there was a time she thought about playing professionally. The dream was there, and with her production, it was realistic. But as her perspective widened, so did her ambitions.

"At some point I was thinking about going professionally," she said. "But as I've gotten older and learned my other skills outside of soccer, I want to dive deep into that. I think I've reached a point where I'll be at peace knowing I've given everything to soccer — and now I can make an impact somewhere else."

On the field – and in life – Tolentino is a role model for her teammates, and her classmates back at Intersect. Her perspective is grounded in the realities of life, and her purpose is as grounded as it is clear.

"You don't need to 'have it all' or 'start young' to reach your goals," she said. "Focus and hard work open doors."

That's the legacy of doing things the hard way, and it's defining Tolentino's life, even at this early stage. An ever-growing self-awareness is perhaps her greatest strength, and it allows her to change as needed without ego, or seemingly, pause.

"She's always on to the next thing," Gidney said. "That's how you get to 20 goals, and that's how she'll be successful in whatever she chooses after this."

For Tolentino, that "next thing" is bigger than a record. It's about building a future her parents never had and honoring the sacrifices that shaped her.

First in her family to attend college, first to play a sport, and, if her past is prologue, the first female student-athlete from Westcliff to leave campus and become an engineer.

Tolentino's scoring mark will live long in the books, but it won't define her.

Instead, it was her journey from Reseda to Westcliff, from chaos to clarity, from the uncertainty of immigrant beginnings to the confidence of a young woman determined to build her own path and her own future, that matters most.

"Soccer was the thing that kept me going," Tolentino said. "Now, it's given me the chance to build something even bigger."