Brittany Rodriguez has officially signed a national letter of intent to continue her lacrosse career at Eastern Oregon University.
She becomes the first player in the Castle Park High School girls lacrosse program to sign and play at the college level since the program began, according to head coach Chris Kryjewski.
The entire Lady Trojans program is obviously excited about the eventful news.
Rodriguez earned distinction as a defender, especially due to her “very aggressive” nature, according the Kryjewski.
“She anchored our defense playing a very important position on our defense which was our ball stopper and putting opponents into a trapping situation,” the Castle Park coach said. “She became available to other colleges when she wasn’t able to re-take the ACT in April to earn a National Merit Scholarship at one school.
“She wanted to be closer to home and Eastern Oregon University and coach (Monica) Plut gave her that opportunity. Her aggressive play is what led Brittany to get recruited and be our first Trojan lacrosse player to go and play at the next level.”
Eastern Oregon University is located in La Grande, Ore. The school’s women’s lacrosse program is a start-up venture and will field its first team during the 2021 season.
The Mountaineers compete at the NAIA level.
“I chose Eastern Oregon University because I wanted to experience something new and get out there, and also be able to meet new people and be part of such a family-like team who support each other,” Rodriguez said.
Castle Park managed to get in four games before the spring season was cut short due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Lady Trojans defeated visiting Otay Ranch, 15-1, on March 12 to record their first league win.
Junior Berenice Villalobos led Castle Park in scoring with nine goals while junior Nani Roche ranked second with eight points on seven goals and one assist.
Villalobos also led the team in fielding with 23 ground balls.
Kryjewski emphasized this could be the beginning of good things to come to the program.
“This has opened a lot of doors for the program to get more exposure by college coaches,” Kryjewski said. “Currently with this signing it has opened doors for our 2021 prospects. We currently have eight players getting recruited out of our 2021 class with several Division III and NAIA schools. We do have interest by some Division II schools but due to the COVID-19 pandemic Division I and Division II colleges can’t speak to players till June 30.
“Brittany being the first signing in seven years of the program is amazing. It shows the effort and the growth this young lady brought to the program day in and day out of her four years at the Land of Troy.”
San Diego Section/South County alumni tracker and college commitments
Collegiate Baseball
College commitments
Zach Armstrong (Eastlake, 2020): Webster University
Ali Camarillo (Otay Ranch, 2021): CSU Northridge
Ray Cebulski (Eastlake, 2021): San Diego State University
Mark Cervantes (Chula Vista Calvary Christian Academy, 2020): University of La Verne
Nico Libed (Eastlake, 2023): University of San Diego
Omar Lopez (Otay Ranch, 2020): Azusa Pacific University
Nathan Nankil (Bonita Vista, 2020): Cal State Fullerton
Marcelo Mayer (Eastlake, 2021): University of Southern California
Daniel McElveny (Bonita Vista, 2021): University of San Diego
Angelo Peraza (St. Augustine, 2020): University of San Diego
Ildefonso Ruiz (Mater Dei Catholic, 2020): San Diego State University
Kai Saterstrom (Eastlake, 2020): San Diego State University
Dante Schmid (Eastlake, 2020): San Jose State University
Josh Smith (Eastlake, 2020): Concordia Nebraska
Holden Stephens (Eastlake, 2020): Arizona Christian
Jordan Thompson (Helix, 2020): Louisiana State University
Alumni tracker
Jalen Fejeran (Eastlake, 2019): UC-San Diego
Emilio Luna (Castle Park, 2019): CSU San Marcos
Randy Abshier (Otay Ranch, 2018): University of Arizona
Grant Holman (Eastlake, 2018): Cal-Berkeley
Brian Leonhardt (Eastlake, 2018): San Diego State University
Micah Pietila-Wiggs (Eastlake, 2018): University of New Mexico, Santa Ana College
Zaine Mendoza (Eastlake, 2018): CSU-San Bernardino
Roberto Duran (Bonita Vista, 2017): Thomas College
Leonard (L.J.) Jones (Eastlake, 2017): Long Beach State
Ben Ramirez (Eastlake, 2017): University of Southern California
Bryan Reyes (Eastlake, 2017): Lewis-Clark State College, San Diego City College, Southwestern College, Vanguard University
Sonny Rivera (Eastlake, 2017): Long Beach State
Juan Sanchez (Eastlake, 2017): Delaware State University
Casey Schmitt (Eastlake, 2017): San Diego State University
Osvaldo Tovalin (Otay Ranch, 2017): Azusa Pacific University
Alex Verdugo (Bonita Vista, 2017): Long Beach State, Grossmont College, University of Nevada-Las Vegas
Ricardo Yoquigua (Chula Vista, 2017): Point Loma Nazarene
Greg (Tre) Brown (Eastlake, 2016): San Diego State University
Adrian Orozco (Otay Ranch, 2012): UC San Diego (2013-14, 2017), Southwestern College (2015), San Diego State University (2016), Point Loma Nazarene (coach)
