Soccer Standout Cazares has Mills Laughing, Winning

Mills High soccer standout Jazmin Cazares has a propensity for inspiring her teammates with clutch goals and precision passes.

But when the Vikings are really in trouble, Cazares turns to her sardonic wit to get her teammates going.

“I guess I get my sense of humor from my dad. He jokes about everything and I take that onto the field with me,” said Cazares. “People like it more when things are funny.” 

These days the Vikings are all smiles.

Mills, 9-0-3 in the Peninsula Athletic League Ocean Division, is already enjoying one of its most successful seasons in program history, and is in contention for what’s believed to be its first league title in going into the last week of the regular season. 

The Vikings play host to first-place Capuchino (11-1-0 PAL Ocean) today at 7 p.m. A Mills victory would leave the archrivals dead even heading into Thursday's regular-season finales. 

Winning league with an unbeaten record would make the season that much more special.

“It would mean so much if we won the title, especially my senior year,” Cazares said.

Cazares, last season’s PAL Ocean forward of the year, is a big reason the Vikings are in this position. She leads the team with 17 goals and 15 assists.

But her contributions to the Vikings go beyond the numbers.

Teammates and coaches say her leadership has meant at least as much as her offensive contributions.

“She’s a really good player. You can tell she’s really experienced, but she has other great qualities,” senior midfielder Rasha Shehadeh said.  “She’ll bring the whole team back up if we’re frustrated during a game. She’s a great captain.”   

Cazares has been playing soccer since she was 8, and has developed her talents without the aid of high-priced individual instructors that many of her top-level counterparts have.

Her self-taught skills have yielded impressive results.

“She’s probably one of the best dribblers in (PAL) Ocean and (upper division) Bay leagues,” Mills coach Caroline Tiziani said. “There aren’t that many players who are as unpredictable as she is taking players on one-vs.-one.”   

Cazares’ game has improved from year to year, Tiziani said. After emerging as one of the Peninsula’s most prolific goal-scorers last season, Cazares has developed a more polished passing game.

“One things that’s changed about her game this year is that yes, she scores goals and she’s great at it, but she has way more assists,” Tiziani said. “We have people on our team who are scoring goals this year because of her development.

Sophomore midfielders Olivia Mullins and Rachel Ling are among the primary beneficiaries of Cazares’ development, Tiziani said.  

Although Cazares has collegiate aspirations, she hasn’t gotten much attention from four-year schools, and that’s an oversight according to Tiziani, a former coach at Division II San Francisco State University.

“I do think she’s been overlooked,” Tiziani said.  “She’s an exceptional player, and having coached college (soccer), there were a lot of players that didn’t dribble as well as she can that were playing Division II soccer.” 

Cazares hasn’t gotten the recognition from college scouts that by all accounts she deserves, largely because of the PAL Ocean’s reputation as a weak league. She competes at an advanced Level-1 club team for the San Bruno Galaxy, but not at the elite premier level where most recruits are scouted.

Cazares, who plans to major in nursing, is considering the junior college route if she doesn’t get any offers from four-year schools.

In addition to some great talent and proven leadership skills, Cazares believes she’d bring a four-year school the same passion for soccer that’s made her one of the most distinguished players in program history.

She hopes to become her family's first scholarship athlete. 

“I would bring a lot of hard work and commitment to the sport,” she said. “I’d try my hardest, and I’d bring all I’ve got.”