{"id":238353,"date":"2026-03-27T00:28:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T00:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/238353\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T00:28:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T00:28:10","slug":"aptos-girls-soccer-standout-alexa-castaneda-commits-to-fresno-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/238353\/","title":{"rendered":"Aptos girls soccer standout Alexa Casta\u00f1eda commits to Fresno State"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Aptos High senior Alexa Casta\u00f1eda announced her verbal commitment to attend Fresno State University to play for the women\u2019s soccer team starting in August. (contributed)<\/p>\n

Aptos High senior Alexa Casta\u00f1eda has left behind an everlasting legacy on campus after four phenomenal years on the pitch with the girls soccer program.<\/p>\n

The Mariner star forward\/midfielder aims to carry on her voyage this upcoming fall, and it won\u2019t be too far from home.<\/p>\n

Casta\u00f1eda this past weekend announced her verbal commitment to attend Fresno State University to play for the women\u2019s soccer team starting in August.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels really good, definitely a weight off my shoulders,\u201d Casta\u00f1eda said. \u201cSo exciting to know where I\u2019m gonna go next year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Casta\u00f1eda visited other schools across the country, going as far as New York, but she couldn\u2019t find a connection with either one.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t feel like it was somewhere that I wanted to go for different reasons,\u201d Casta\u00f1eda said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As soon as she stepped foot on Fresno State\u2019s campus, Casta\u00f1eda said there was an immediate sense of a supportive community similar to her hometown in Watsonville.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust like family, basically,\u201d Casta\u00f1eda said. \u201cAnd it was definitely something that stuck out to me right when I got there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Casta\u00f1eda was highly recruited by Fresno State first-year head coach Gabriel Bolton, who at the time was at Stanislaus State for the past 21 seasons at the helm.<\/p>\n

Bolton led Stanislaus to 11 postseason appearances\u2014four NCAA and 12 California Collegiate Athletic Association championship tournaments. He was the most successful coach in the program\u2019s history, finishing with a 223-123-48 overall record.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bolton stayed in contact with Casta\u00f1eda, asking her to play for him at Fresno State, which is an NCAA Division I school and member of the Pac-12 Conference.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe coach is important but I feel like the environment is more important to me,\u201d Casta\u00f1eda said.<\/p>\n

Casta\u00f1eda doesn\u2019t anticipate seeing too much time on the pitch during her first year with the Bulldogs, yet she\u2019ll remain positive and attempt to be the best version of herself.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny way that I can contribute to the team is something that I want to do and look forward to,\u201d Casta\u00f1eda said. \u201cI\u2019m going for soccer, but I just don\u2019t want to focus so much on minutes instead of having a good time, and getting better over time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aptos head coach Gina Casta\u00f1eda is one of her daughter\u2019s biggest cheerleaders from the sideline and at home.<\/p>\n

Gina Casta\u00f1eda noted that Alexa\u2019s stats might not pop out on paper, yet it was her ability to make big plays in key moments when nobody else could step up.<\/p>\n

One of those moments happened against The King\u2019s Academy during the Central Coast Section Division III finals<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Alexa Casta\u00f1eda scored the game-winning goal in the 65th minute, helping the Mariners secure their first-ever section title in the program\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

She was twice named the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League\u2019s Player of the Year in 2024 and \u201826, adding more accolades to her illustrious prep career.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201c[Alexa\u2019s] work ethic and hard work, and what she contributes to this program is unheard of,\u201d Gina Casta\u00f1eda said. \u201cIt\u2019s not just this year, it\u2019s been four years. She takes accountability, she works hard and it\u2019s her leadership on the field.\u201d<\/p>\n

The soccer bloodline runs deep within the Casta\u00f1edas. Gina (class of 1993) was a four-year varsity starter, and part of two squads that won SCCAL crowns in \u201890 and \u201892.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Alexa Casta\u00f1eda tallied 132 total points (44 goals and 44 assists) in four years at Aptos, finishing second to her sister Jazmine (class of 2022) with 173 total points (65 goals and 43 assists).<\/p>\n

\u201c[Alexa\u2019s] so skilled and has a huge vision of the game that just puts her over and beyond,\u201d Gina Casta\u00f1eda said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Alexa Casta\u00f1eda recently earned a spot on the 2008 Girls Olympic Development National Select team. They are set to travel to Spain for nine days in April to play against some top-tier competition.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t an easy journey for Casta\u00f1eda, though. She got cut the first three years of trying out for the ODP team, realizing her spot on the team wasn\u2019t going to come to her.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to be on the team because I wanted to prove people wrong. I can make it, I am good enough,\u201d Casta\u00f1eda said. \u201cThat was something that inspired me when I was younger\u2026getting chosen for Spain, I felt grateful for everybody that\u2019s helped throughout my journey, especially my mom for making me try out and push myself to be a better player.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Aptos High senior Alexa Casta\u00f1eda announced her verbal commitment to attend Fresno State University to play for the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":238354,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[107434,112,114,113,742,61409,12903],"class_list":{"0":"post-238353","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fresno","8":"tag-aptos-high","9":"tag-fresno","10":"tag-fresno-headlines","11":"tag-fresno-news","12":"tag-fresno-state","13":"tag-girls-soccer","14":"tag-womens-soccer"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238353"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238353\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/238354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}