Bullets speed toward wins

Two weeks into the season, the Costa Mesa Bullets were in limbo.

With games coming up, the AYSO Region 120 girls’ under-12 team had the players — well, sort of.

“A lot of people were on vacation, so we weren’t even sure we would have a full team,” assistant coach Michelle Novoa said.

But what the Bullets really didn’t have was a coach.

So, Novoa made a decision to volunteer her husband, Ivan. She now laughs.

“There was just nobody who had the time or experience to pick up coaching, so I threw his name out there,” Michelle Novoa said. “I threw him into in the fire.”

She also might laugh because considering those beginnings, it’s silly how far the team has come. But not only are the Bullets still alive, they’re the Region 120 champions, the Area Q champions and headed to the AYSO Section 11 playoffs, which start Saturday at Griffith Middle School in Downey.

The Section 11 playoffs, featuring youth teams from Los Angeles to San Diego, may provide a challenge for the Bullets, who haven’t lost all year (15-0-1). But if they win the section, they will continue on to the California state tournament.

Ivan Novoa, who also coached his younger daughter, Marlena, in the under-eight girls’ division this year, remains confident in his team. The Bullets feature standouts like midfielders Hayley Gonzales, Evelyn Lugo, Maddie Deutsch and Alexis Mondares, defenders Shantae Elam and Mariah Curran and forwards Alondra Novoa and Madison Caffey.

“We’re just hoping we’ll have a good effort,” said Ivan Novoa, as the Bullets trained at the Orange Coast College track on Monday. “They like each other, that’s the main thing. They never fight, and they’re always pushing each other.”

Deutsch, whose father, Tim, is a team assistant coach, said she likes practices when the team can partner up and play scrimmages. She said she looks forward to this weekend.

“I think it’s going to be fun because we’ll be in a different place,” said Deutsch, 11, who attends California Elementary School. “We’re not in Costa Mesa playing.”

Alondra Novoa and Caffey are the only two 10-year-olds on the team. Novoa said the team has gotten this far because of its hard work.

“We worked as a team,” said Novoa, who attends Greenville Fundamental School in Santa Ana. “We played our hearts out because we want to win it all.”

Michelle Novoa said that for the Bullets, winning proved contagious at the Area Q playoffs, which they won with a 1-0 decision over North Irvine on Dec. 20.

“They had been on that winning streak,” she said. “Now it was already in their heads that, you know what, we’ve been winning all this time. It gave them even more desire to win and keep going, keep putting another notch in their belts.”

Fitness has also played a big role in their success. At least half of the Bullets’ practice time is devoted to running, which became 100% this week as the team couldn’t find fields to practice on.

At OCC Monday, they were doing sprints on the track, and also running up and down the stairs. If they win the sections, Michelle Novoa said the Bullets can get ready for some “Rocky”-type training.

“If we win and go on, they need to get ready, because we’ll be doing some beach runs,” she said. “And then they can hang out and play in the water, once the water warms up.”

That would be fine with Hayley Gonzales.

“We’ve been working together,” said Gonzales, 12, who attends Calvary Chapel and also plays on the team there. “We have sportsmanship. I like running with them.”

Teammate and fellow midfielder Evelyn Lugo, standing nearby, cracked a smile.

“I’m starting to like running,” she said.

Also contributing to the Bullets’ success have been Danni Blackman, Veronica Ebergenyi, Jamie Knauer, Victoria Sturdy and Alexis Monestime.