Best friends lead, playoff history motivates Gregori girls soccer to top ranking
Kylie Farmer and Grace Rodriguez are consistent.
All of their hangouts are the same. They eat, sleep and talk “all the time.”
When they want to change it up, they’ll step outside. They recently started going to the mall and working out together. But everything they do, they say, has to include a stop for food.
Admittedly, their food choices are not always the best. Both love a sweet treat, and Rodriguez said her go-to is Yogurt Mill.
No matter what they’re doing, when the Gregori High girls soccer players are not on the field, chances are they’re together.
“We’re like best friends,” Farmer said. “We’re really close on and off the field. I know what run she’s gonna make and where she’s gonna be, so I just play the ball and trust she’s gonna get to it because she’s fast.”
They started playing together in eighth-grade with Stanislaus United Soccer Club, and though they weren’t a dynamic duo right away, they spent time together off the field and took multiple reps on it. Before long, they were clicking. Now, nearly four years into their careers together, they’re dialed in.
“When she has the ball, I know where she’s gonna go. She’s gonna do her little fake kick like she’s gonna kick the ball then she’s gonna pass it,” Rodriguez said as she raised her right foot to emulate Farmer’s fake pass. “We see each other every day, and being that close, we’re able to read each other.”
They are consistent off the field and dynamic on it, leading the Jaguars to an unbeaten record, a No. 1 ranking in the Sac-Joaquin Section, No. 4 ranking in the most recent MaxPreps California state rankings and a top-15 ranking in the nation.
Gregori, the defending Central California Athletic League champion, is coming off a program-record 18 wins last year and is already on pace to break that mark, boasting an 11-0-1 record with eight regular season matches left.
‘Oh my God, you’re number one’
Two weeks into the season, the Jaguars were the No. 1 team in California.
Some thought it was a fluke.
Maybe just a carryover from last season’s rankings. After all, it was still early in the season and the Jaguars were one of the final four teams left in the Sac-Joaquin Section’s Division I playoff bracket. They also returned a lot of last season’s firepower.
Then a few weeks went by and they kept their spot as California’s top team. Was this real?
Then they went out and scored seven goals against Justin Garza, a season high, only solidifying the fact they had the firepower to do something special.
By then, they went 8-0-1 and had not allowed a goal.
Their streak of shutouts ended in their CCAL opener against Downey with a late second-half free kick, but they extended their unbeaten streak.
They scored five first-half goals and coasted to a 6-1 win for their 10th victory this season. They recorded their 11th shutout of the season Tuesday in their very next game, beating Pitman 5-0 and moving to 2-0 in CCAL play.
Rodriguez recalls walking into school in December and learning her team was the top in California. She found out with the rest of the Gregori High student body when the news came over the loudspeaker as part of the morning announcements.
“I remember I heard it and I was like, ‘Oh, I didn’t even know that,’” Rodriguez said. “I just thought it was a really crazy, surreal experience. We were walking around school and people were like, ‘Oh my God, you’re number one.’”
While the Jaguars were the state’s top team, they also climbed in the national rankings, peaking at No. 6 at the time.
Rodriguez has received attention from coaches at the next level, including those from NCAA Division II UC Merced, and for good reason. She has 19 goals this season, a team high, and is tied for the team lead in assists. Her goals total rank 16th in California and fourth in the section. She also adds 44 points, 18th in the state and fifth in the SJS.
Melanie Contreras adds five goals and four assists and Farmer controls the game’s pace. As a defensive midfielder, she is responsible for shifting the Jaguars’ attack, dribbling through opponents as they transition from offense to defense. A University of Oregon signee, Farmer has five goals and six assists.
The seniors have gone from wide-eyed underclassmen, happy to be on the field with their senior teammates, to team leaders.
“When I first came in, I really looked up to the seniors,” said Farmer, who transferred to Gregori as a sophomore from Modesto Christian. “It’s kind of cool to be that for other people and then hopefully pass on stuff that they’ll keep when they’re seniors here at Gregori.”
The Jaguars are more than just offense, though. Senior goalkeeper Jocelyn Malagon has not allowed a goal this season and the Jaguars as a team have allowed just one, outscoring their opponents 44-1.
Farmer speaks glowingly about her team’s defense. She drops back to help them in the flow of the game, but each individual on the Jaguars’ back line plays her role to perfection. It is an athletic defense with fast, multi-sport athletes that has not allowed a goal during live play (the goal allowed came from a free kick).
The past is motivation
Every season for the past three years, the Jaguars have made deeper postseason runs.
In 2022, they did not make the postseason, but they came back in 2023 to win a first-round match and advance to the quarterfinals.
Last season was the best in program history and saw the team win 18 games total, two postseason matches and advance to the Sac-Joaquin Section semifinals, where they fell in a 3-2 nailbiter at home to Folsom.
“There’s only one more step after how far we’ve made it, and that’s the finals,” Farmer said. “So, hopefully we can make it that far. … Continuing to go farther shows that people are stepping up and we’re still a good team.”
What sets this year’s team apart from others Moore has coached, she said, is the depth. They are young but talented, with multiple freshmen and sophomores recording at least one goal and an assist. Sophomore Aliya Lopez is second on the team with five assists.
“I believe we have such a great overall team culture,” Moore said. “Everybody gets along, there’s no bickering. … They want to take care of their teammates and make sure everybody’s happy.”
Happiness is the goal at the end of the season, too. The seniors want to go out on top in their final year, and the other players want to do their best to make that happen.
“We always talk about it, too. How we’re getting one step closer, one step closer. We just want to win it all,” Rodriguez said. “It definitely motivates us a lot.”
This story was originally published January 14, 2026 at 8:19 AM.
