Santa Clara women’s soccer adds five newcomers for 2023

Kiil played for her high school team as a freshman and sophomore. Both seasons the team won league and her freshman year they also captured the CIF championship.

Her San Diego Surf ECNL team made it to the round of 16 of ENCL Nationals in 2021-22 when the team was ranked No. 2 in the nation. She was a SoCal ODP pick in 2019-20.

Her brother Jackson is on the Stanford men’s soccer team. Her father Skip won a National Championship in baseball at Cal State Fullerton in 1995 and played professionally in the Minor Leagues.

Prior to transitioning to soccer in 2017, Tovar competed in world championship acrobatic gymnastics.

In her free time, she enjoys skiing, going to the beach, traveling, and sports.

Whitehouse played from the Real Colorado National U-16-19. Her team won the U17 ECNL National Championship where she was named first team all-conference and picked for the National Selection Game. That season, she led her team in assists and finished second in goals. She was U15 DA National Champion runner ups.

In the classroom, Whitehouse was named first team academic all-state and was a member of the National Honors Society.

She became the first female varsity football player at her high school.

Whitehouse has camp experience with U15s and has been in the player pool for U16 and U17.

In her free time, she enjoys wakeboarding, water skiing, and swivel skiing.

Franco played in the 2021 ECNL National Selection Game. She also has experience at U15 and U17 US Youth National Team camps.

She has worked at youth goalkeeper camps.

Tovar played at the US Youth National Team Identification Center from 2015-19 and was a US iD2 Program participant in 2017.  In 2021 she played in a friendly against the current U20 World Champion Spanish National Team. In 2018, she started and scored in a friendly against Australia.

She is rostered with the Valencia CF Femenino A and B team. The B team were league champions in 2022-22. She made her professional debut with Valencia CF Femenino A in March of 2022 and played in the Copa de la Reina that same month.

Tovar was on the Principal’s List Honor Roll as a freshman, sophomore, and junior and a member of the National Merit’s Honor Society. She graduated from the American School of Valencia in Spain.

Tovar’s cousin Veronica played for the Mexican National Team from 2001-02.

In her free time, she enjoys listening to music, drawing, and traveling.

Yamamoto was a captain of her high school team during the 2022-23 season. She was also a World Language Scholar from grade nine through 11.

She played for DeAnza Force ECNL from 2020-22 and now plays for MVLA (Mountain View Los Altos). Her current club team is in first place in the ECNL NorCal League.

Yamamoto has experience at Youth National Training identification training centers and took part in the U17 virtual camp in February 2021.

Her father, Eric, played soccer at Santa Clara from 1986-90 where he won the program’s lone National Championship in 1989. He then coached the Broncos women team under current head coach Jerry Smith, helping the program win its first title. Overall, he is in his 31st season as a coach at Santa Clara.