Daily Journal Girls’ Soccer Player of the Year: Sacred Heart Prep’s Lauryn Masetti

But there were a lot more question marks coming into the 2025-26 season. Masetti was back for her senior year, but with the core of the team gutted by graduation, how would the rest of the team fill around the star senior?

Quite nicely, it turns out. No matter how good an individual player is, they have to depend on their teammates to get them the ball. And a freshman-heavy Gators squad did just that.

With the spotlight on Masetti, she shined brighter than anyone. While the Gators did not enjoy the same team success they did last year, Masetti put on a performance that puts her in rarified air in the Gators’ program. Not only did Masetti repeat as the WBAL Forward of the Year after scoring 23 goals and assisting on seven others, she will aslo add the honor of being the 2026 San Mateo Daily Journal Girls’ Soccer Player of the Year.

“We didn’t have a lot of expectations (coming into the season),” Masetti said. “I was pleasantly surprised. I saw a good foundation of the team (going forward).”

It was a surprising finish to a career that SHP head coach Armando Del Rio admits he didn’t see coming. Having to basically rebuild, Del Rio didn’t know what to expect.

“Our team was very young … with maybe two, three players who were strong enough (to withstand the rigors of varsity soccer),” Del Rio said. “It was Masetti being Superman.”

In the season opener, the Gators found themselves down 2-0 to Carlmont after 10 minutes in what turned out to be a 2-1 loss, which had Del Rio thinking, ‘This is going to be a long season.”

But he suddenly perked up two days later when Masetti had a foot in all four goals of a 4-1 pasting of crosstown rival Menlo-Atherton, netted three goals and assisting on the fourth.

That was followed by a hat trick against Palo Alto, a brace against Notre Dame-Belmont before a four-goal outburst against Castilleja.

Del Rio started to believe that if his team was going to go through some growing pains this season, he would lean on Masetti to be the focal point of the offense with a mindset of attacking and scoring multiple goals, instead of sitting back and trying to nurse a lead.

“We set up our team to not be a one-goal-lead team,” Del Rio said. “We’re going to let Masetti do her thing.”

Masetti added two more hat trick during the season, doing it twice against Notre Dame-San Jose. The Gators struggled to a fifth-place finish in the WBAL Foothill Division standings, going just 3-2-5, but their overall record of 8-4-5 was good enough to get them into the CCS Division III bracket.

It was a short stay, as SHP was eliminated by Monterey in overtime of the first round.

It was clear early on that Masetti would be asked to carry the offense for the Gators and she said that was a heavy burden to bear at times.

“It was a lot of pressure. I felt that in a lot of games — if I wasn’t scoring, we weren’t going to win. I did feel the target on my back,” Masetti said. “But the reason I feel like I did so well is that I had the girls on the team who supported me.

“A lot of our team were freshmen. I think having the pressure of them looking up to me was really stressful. But I learned how to rely on them.”

Del Rio said he was in constant communication with Masetti as she became a quasi-assistant coach. While he would go to her for input about lineups and tactics, it was also a chance for Del Rio to reassure and make sure Masetti was getting what she wanted out of playing.

“I would say (to Masetti), almost on a daily basis, just like, ‘Hey, we’re indebted to you. I know you feel it’s your burden, but it really isn’t. You have to enjoy what you’re doing,’” Del Rio said. “I’ve always felt … that Lauryn was a special player. To me, she has always been a difference maker. To me, Masetti wins the game for you. She makes the difference in the final third to win the game.”

Del Rio said Masetti possessed the traits to be an all-around striker — who could not only play with her back to the goal and make the turn, but also had the ability to take defenders off the dribble.

“She has such a competitive mindset that you don’t always see. She’s there to win and she’s there to win her matchup,” Del Rio said. “She’s has incredible quickness and explosive speed. The trifecta is, she’s very nuanced and very good in tight spaces. She has an uncanny ability to go full speed and then stop.”

Then there were the intangibles. Del Rio said Masetti’s competitive drive certainly was beneficial, but so was the chip on her shoulder that she played with all season.

After being disillusioned by the college recruiting process, Del Rio said Masetti went into every game looking to prove something.

“She knew our team was going to be a very inexperienced team, so I think this was one of those cases where she said, ‘This is what everyone gets for not recruiting me,’” Del Rio. “I think she enjoyed that.”

Said Masetti: “I just got kind of unlucky in the recruiting process. It was a blow. But I knew my self worth and this was my year to shine. After those first couple of games, I kind of knew I would prove myself. Being able to play against [recruited players] and score meant a lot to me.”