Alyssa O’Brien

Alyssa O’Brien, co-captain of the women’s varsity soccer team and midfielder of the women’s varsity lacrosse team, signed her national letter of intent on Nov. 14 committing to UC Santa Barbara. She will play D1 soccer at UCSB starting next fall.

“I am really excited. UCSB was definitely my top school for soccer… I honestly didn’t know which sport I was going to commit at a school for and it ended up being soccer and I am really happy with it because UCSB is just like the perfect school for me,” O’Brien said.

Apart from playing for DV, O’Brien also plays for Mustangs Soccer in Danville. She has played soccer for about 12 years, starting in kindergarten.

“I enjoy it because it is like an exit in life, a way to let out everything that I am feeling like if I have a bad day or if I am mad that day for example, then I will play really aggressive and since I am on a high and competitive level, it is okay and it is fun and it’s just a way for me to let out everything that I am feeling,” O’Brien said.

Sports run in her blood; her dad played basketball and soccer. Her mom, a Brazilian, played soccer and adores it to this day. Her brother plays football, basketball and soccer. But her biggest inspiration is her older sister Amanda, who was the captain of the DVHS Women’s Lacrosse team in the 2015-2016 season and the 2016-2017. She graduated in 2017 and is currently studying at UC Santa Barbara.
“She was the one to encourage me to play sports competitively and now it’s like literally my favorite thing to do,” O’Brien said.
O’Brien received an “Athlete of the Year” award at Gale Ranch in 8th grade and has received all league awards for soccer and lacrosse. You receive a league award when you are chosen as one of the most “outstanding players in the league” by the coaches. She has been in Varsity Soccer and Varsity Lacrosse since her freshman year and has been the captain of varsity soccer team for three years.
“Alyssa is a great kid. She is an absolute joy to coach. I am very fortunate to be able to coach her during the high school season. I know that with the attitude that she has a great head on her shoulders she will be doing far greater things in life than being successful in soccer—I know she will be doing some great things in life,” former coach Luis Siu said.
Furthermore, she is loved by all her team players and they think she really deserved the scholarship.
“She definitely deserved it because of her willingness to work on and off the ball as well as her amazing dribbling skills. She just cuts inside with a really quick pace that the defenders can’t keep up with,” forver DV student Charley Okmin said.
To sum up, O’Brien has her life figured out as of now. She is going to UCSB for school after she graduates. In college, she wants to study communications. She was to be involved in something with business and when she is older, she hopes to be a businesswoman.

Danielle Suh

Co-captain Danielle Suh signed her national letter of intent on Nov. 14 committing to play for D1 golf at SJSU.

“ I was considering other schools in the PAC 12 like UC Berkeley, UCLA, UDub, TCU, Oregon. All the other schools. But San Jose was the best for me because of coaching staff and then [their] practice facility was cool. And they gave me the best offer. So I signed with them two weeks ago. So it’s official now. That’s really cool,” Suh said.

Suh has been playing golf for 14 years. She has played other sports like track and archery, but she felt that golf would take her to places and has a passion for it.

“I used to live in San Francisco and I used to live right outside TPC Harding Park in San Francisco. So I would just like to go on and play. It just interested me when I was little. I like how independent golf can be. Because you’re basically playing is you yourself and then like the club, but when it comes to team, it’s also super fun. I was better at golf, or just better at golf. Like archery was cool. And it’s just a hobby I could do and then running is running like, whatever. But I knew [golf could take me to places, like San Jose State],” Suh said.

She has been playing for varsity ever since freshman year. She has been captain for two years along with seniors Jacqueline Han and Melinda Yu.

“She is an awesome co-captain. I’ve known her since we were kids and we used to play in tournaments together, so I always knew that she was a good individual player, but she is also a really talented leader and a team player. My favorite thing about her is her dedication to our team. She puts the team interests before her own and thats very admirable,” co-captain Yu said.

Apart from school, she plays in a lot of tournaments in Northern California and the US overall.

“The hardest ones are the American Junior Golf Association ones, where there are people from across the US as well as international. Those are pretty hard because the field is so stacked and it’s based on gender and not age groups,” Suh said.

She comes from a family with golf players. Her dad plays golf, her uncle is a PGA professional and is currently teaching in Northern California, and her cousins play golf as well.

Her peer athletes also motivate to her to play better. She was inspired most by her captain freshmen year.

“I know my freshman year, our captain Belinda went to Harvard for golf. So seeing her and wanting to be like her has been really encouraging and it’s definitely helped my high school game improve a lot,” Suh said.

Suh has won a couple of awards at Dougherty. According to Suh, her highlight is the San Francisco City Championship she won in March 2019.

Overall, Suh is proud of her golf career so far and hopes to pursue it throughout college.

“My main goal in college is obviously academics, I definitely want to get a degree. But in terms of golf, if I feel like college is kind of a stepping stone into playing professional, then I’d definitely go for it. If not, then I’d probably stop my golf career there or just play for fun,” Suh said.

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