Soccer is the ultimate team sport and Hart High’s Gianna Costello and Mia Rodriguez are the ultimate team players.
The two UC Irvine commits and best friends from Newhall have the Hawks poised for a deep run in the Southern Section Division 1 playoffs. Their paths to the NCAA level have been similar — and they have gone through much of the journey together.
Hart coach Brett Croft, who playedat the Master’s College in Newhall and also coaches the women’s team at Biola University in La Mirada, is proud that his two senior leaders set a positive example for their teammates.
“Good players start as good people,” said Croft, now in his fourth year as Hawks pilot after serving the previous six as the JV coach. “Gianna and Mia are very selfless individuals. They’ve been in our program for four years. They lead with humility and confidence. Both are attacking players but also versatile. They’ll likely be wingers at the next level.”
Not surprisingly, the two future Anteaters are Hart’s leading scorers. Costello has 14 goals and four assists, while Rodriguez has 10 goals and five assists.
Costello and Rodriguez each scored twice in a 7-0 victory at Canyon Country on Tuesday. Costello scored the first goal, then she and Rodriguez assisted on freshman Kelly Wieckowski’s goal during a 5-0 win at Valencia on Thursday.
The Hawks (9-5-1) are 7-0 in Foothill League play, outscoring their opponents 30-0. They travel to Westlake for a nonleague contest on Wednesday, then resume league action Thursday at Golden Valley.
“I’ve been playing soccer since I was 7½ but I’ve also played flag football, track and field, softball and basketball in high school,” said Costello, who competes in the 100-, 200- and 400-meter dashes and high jump. “I gave up basketball and softball my sophomore year, I was a slot receiver in flag football in the fall and I’m hoping to break the school record in the high jump in the spring.”
“Growing up, I tried basketball, volleyball, swimming, dance and, of course, soccer,” Rodriguez added.
Like most young soccer players in America, their development started in AYSO.
“I went from AYSO to AYSO All-Stars to club, then to the Elite Clubs National Level (ECNL) towards the end of my junior year,” Costello said.
“My story is similar,” Rodriguez said. “I started AYSO when I was 5, club when I was 10 and ECNL at the end of my junior year.”
Rodriguez, slated to play outside midfield at Irvine, was the first to commit, doing so early last summer.
“I considered UC Irvine and three others,” said Rodriguez, who has a 4.6 cumulative grade-point average. “The biggest factors were location, being close to my family and the coaching staff. I responded well to [UCI coach Scott Juniper]. I kept an open mind about going out of state, but deep down I knew I wanted to stay closer to home.”
Her teammate was soon to follow.
“I committed at the beginning of my senior year,” said Costello, who maintains a 4.5 GPA and expects to play forward for the Anteaters. “Being close to my family and my personal values were two of the factors. I was considering six schools and it came down to UCI and Point Loma. When I made my decision, Mia was the first person I told. I’m super happy we get to experience another four years together.”
The two have been on the same club team since junior high and they transitioned to ECNL at the same time, though they play for different teams. Both plan on majoring in business.
“We can request living together,” Rodriguez said, referring to the living arrangements of college athletes. “In fact, they encourage us to live off campus and be settled in before the season starts.”
Both girls concurred that going to the ECNL, a national developmental league founded in 2009 that is separated into age groups from U-13 to U-19, played a major role in their college recruitment.
“We won two state cups with Legends FC at Central Park [in Santa Clarita], but ECNL has more showcases and gives you much more exposure,” Costello said. “Some coaches only look at that.”
Rodriguez echoed her teammate’s sentiments: “It’s definitely a good idea to join ECNL. You travel all over playing lots of tournaments and you get seen. It really prepares you.”
Winning is something both girls are accustomed to in high school.
Hart went 20-3-2 last season and advanced to the quarterfinals of the Division 1 playoffs, losing to eventual champion Eastvale Roosevelt. Costello tallied nine goals and one assist in 16 games, while Rodriguez had five goals and two assists in 13 games.
In 2022-23, Hart won the Southern California Regional Division II championship with a 4-2 victory over San Diego San Marcos in the finals after winning the Southern Section Division 2 crown 1-0 over Harvard-Westlake in heavy rain at College of the Canyons. Costello had eight goals and three assists in nine games, and Rodriguez had two assists in two games.
Hart finished 13-4-2 overall and 9-1-2 in league when the two were freshman. Rodriguez was brought up to varsity midway through that season while Costello remained on JV.
Hart has not suffered a league loss since a 1-0 defeat to Valencia on Feb. 3, 2022, when Costello and Rodriguez were in ninth grade. Since then, the Hawks have gone 29-0-3 in league while posting 26 shutouts and are soaring toward their fourth straight league title.
“We started off a little slow, so we were really motivated coming into league,” Rodriguez said. “Winning league is always our first goal.”
Costello delivered the Hawks’ biggest goal of the season, scoring in the final minute to hand Saugus its first defeat Dec. 19. Unselfishly, Rodriguez agreed to play defense in a contest her team needed to win. While their coach will be sad to see the duo graduate, he looks forward to watching them at the next level.
“I have confidence both Mia and Gianna will succeed in college due to their relentless work ethic, competitive nature, team-first mentality, and their innate God-given abilities and talents,” Croft said.
