{"id":254667,"date":"2026-04-06T21:57:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T21:57:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/254667\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T21:57:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T21:57:15","slug":"aptos-talent-alexa-castaneda-commits-to-ncaa-d-i-fresno-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/254667\/","title":{"rendered":"Aptos talent Alexa Castaneda commits to NCAA D-I Fresno State"},"content":{"rendered":"

Aptos High soccer talent Alexa Castaneda, a two-time All-Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League Player of the Year<\/a> and four-time first-team honoree, announced on social media that she has committed to NCAA Division I Fresno State University.<\/p>\n

After taking official visits to Long Island University, Hofstra University, and Queens College, Castaneda knew she\u2019d get homesick if she elected to continue her athletic and academic careers on the East Coast. She also had offers from multiple D-II schools.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, the Bulldogs entered the mix.<\/p>\n

\"AptosAptos High senior midfielder Alexa Castaneda helped the Mariners win the Central Coast Section Division III crown, the program\u2019s first section title, this season. (Shmuel Thaler – Santa Cruz Sentinel)<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really excited to know where I\u2019m going next year and to keep playing at a place I really want to be,\u201d said Castaneda, a 5-foot-4 senior midfielder who was chosen to train and compete with the\u00a02008 U.S. ODP National Select Team in Valencia, Spain, on April 14-23.<\/p>\n

Castaneda, accompanied by her parents and older sister, Jazmine, took a one-day visit to Fresno State on March 20. On campus from roughly 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., her visit was a sprint compared to the overnight visits some recruits\u2019 experience, but attractive nonetheless.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was sad to leave,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Castaneda first met with Bulldogs assistant Amanda Valentine and was taken do a photo shoot in a Bulldogs\u2019 uniform.<\/p>\n

Jazmine, who played soccer at Cal State University-Monterey Bay before stepping away with concussion issues, joined her sister while preparing for the shoot and the both exchange giggles as the younger Castaneda donned the uniform.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh my God, it was so exciting,\u201d Castaneda said. \u201cI felt happy. I just felt different.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was a big moment. Pretty much since birth, Castaneda always had a ball at her feet. She started playing rec soccer as a 4-year-old and club soccer a year later.<\/p>\n

Gina Castaneda, an Aptos High Athletics Hall of Famer and the girls\u2019 varsity head coach, said her youngest daughter\u2019s dream began as a child in the family\u2019s backyard.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a little girl, while others were playing dress-up, Alexa grew up saying, \u201cOne day I\u2019m going to play on the national team,\u201d her mom said. \u201cShe even joked she was a \u2018princess soccer player,\u2019 always with a ball at her feet.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlexa grew up watching her older sister Jazmine train and, eventually, play in college, Alexa followed every step, literally. She was always there, ball in hand, training and practicing, learning, working, and dreaming.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Castaneda considering quitting the sport. It was a big commitment, mentally, physically, and time-wise. But Jazmine, the Mariners\u2019 junior-varsity head coach, was always there to persuade her younger sister to get off the couch and join her outside to tinker around with the ball.<\/p>\n

\"AptosAptos High senior midfielder Alexa Castaneda, a Fresno State University commit, finished with 43 goals and 38 assists in her four-year Mariners career. (Shmuel Thaler – Santa Cruz Sentinel)<\/p>\n

Their sessions helped Castaneda realize how much she loved the sport and that nothing in life comes easy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI credit my sister,\u201d Castaneda said. \u201cShe always pushed me.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the photo shoot, Castaneda had a break before meeting with Bulldogs head coach Gabriel Bolton and an academic counselor. She was taken to the dining hall. Castaneda joked that that\u2019s when she knew Fresno State was where she wanted to be \u2014 there\u2019s a Taco Bell on campus.<\/p>\n

After lunch, Castaneda met with Bolton, was introduced to some of her future teammates, watched them practice and work out, and toured the facilities, athletic and otherwise.<\/p>\n

Castaneda liked what she saw, but did Bolton like what he saw? He\u2019d seen Castaneda\u2019s game film and watched her compete in person against Pajaro Valley on Dec. 23, but he wanted to see her play against a higher level opponent.<\/p>\n

He arranged for Castaneda to compete for Newark FC against powerful Lamorinda Soccer Club on March 21, and offered the Mariners\u2019 tactical star some advice.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want you to be physical, aggressive, and the first one to the ball,\u201d she remembered him saying, \u201cIf you\u2019re not, you won\u2019t be playing here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bolton stood along one of the touchlines during the first half of Newark\u2019s 8-0 loss. Castaneda tried her best to heed Bolton\u2019s advice before she was subbed out in the second half.<\/p>\n

When she exited, Bolton was no longer visible. He\u2019d left early.<\/p>\n

Fearing the worst, Castaneda ran to her phone and checked her text messages.<\/p>\n

Bolton left one, and she exhaled. It read: \u201cAre you ready to be a Bulldog?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Aptos High soccer talent Alexa Castaneda, a two-time All-Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League Player of the Year and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":254668,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112849,61375,112850,112,114,113,112851,61426],"class_list":{"0":"post-254667","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fresno","8":"tag-alexa-castaneda","9":"tag-aptos-mariners","10":"tag-college-commitment","11":"tag-fresno","12":"tag-fresno-headlines","13":"tag-fresno-news","14":"tag-fresno-state-bulldogs-womens-soccer","15":"tag-jim-seimas"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254667","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=254667"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254667\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/254668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}