High school seniors from throughout San Diego County gathered at Snapdragon Stadium on Nov. 13 to sign their National Letters of Intent to play college sports next year.
Mission Bay High seniors Malayah Warner and Linnea Lijenstrand-Moen were among those participating in the 13th annual event hosted by the San Diego Sports Association. The event was a way for talented and successful student-athletes to celebrate the commitment they were making to play at colleges and universities around the nation.
Warner committed to play soccer at Christopher Newport University in Newport, Virginia. The campus, founded in 1960, is an extension of the College of William and Mary in nearby Williamsburg, Virginia.
“CNU has a top NCAA Division III soccer team,” Warner said. “They were undefeated in the regular season and have qualified for the fourth round of the Women’s NCAA Soccer playoffs.”
Warner said she is considering a double major in business and kinesiology so she can become a sports physical therapist and open her own practice.
Having attended Sessions Elementary and Pacific Beach Middle schools before becoming a Mission Bay High Buccaneer and enrolling in the school’s International Baccalaureate diploma program, Warner has exhibited success on the soccer field and in the classroom. She started playing club soccer in fourth grade and currently plays for Albion SC GA 2007.
“While I am excited to go to a school somewhere new, meet new people and experience becoming fully independent, I am a little sad to be leaving a place I have lived most of my life and all of my friends I have had since I was little,” Warner said.
Lijenstrand-Moen signed to play Division I women’s field hockey at the University of California, Davis. She transferred to Mission Bay High from Longfellow Spanish Immersion K-8 school and entered high school fluent in Spanish.
“I chose Mission Bay High School because of its rigorous International Baccalaureate academic program,” Lijenstrand-Moen said. “I was interested in this as I was coming from a Spanish immersion background and wanted to broaden my horizons.
“I also felt that the Mission Bay athletic community was something special that I wanted to be a part of,” she said.
Lijenstrand-Moen started playing field hockey in seventh grade after playing club soccer for many years. She credited her initial experience with field hockey to “a dear family friend, Paula Conway, who helped me begin my field hockey journey. I currently play with the HTC Field Hockey Club here in Sam Diego.”
Her career interests include international diplomacy and possibly law.
“I am really thrilled to begin my journey at UC Davis,” Lijenstrand-Moen said. “Although I will miss my high school environment and team, I am really excited to see what the future (holds) in this next chapter of my life.”
