Turtletaub's Skill and Toughness Powered Bearcats

San Mateo High soccer standout Katelyn Turtletaub was concerned enough about the condition of an ankle that she’d injured for a second time since the start of the season that she considered sitting out the last two weeks of the Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division season.

Turtletaub, a senior forward who was recently named to the first-team All-PAL Bay, was dogged by injuries throughout a stellar two-sport San Mateo career.

But with her overachieving Bearcats making a run at the program’s first Bay title – unheard of for a team a year removed from the lower-level PAL Ocean Division – nobody who knew Turtletaub seriously saw her being reduced to a spectator.

So Turtletaub, also a two-time All-PAL Bay selection in volleyball, grabbed an ace bandage and put on her cleats.

“I took a day off (from practice) and then I decided to go for it and play because there were some very important games for us,” Turtletaub said.

Ultimately, San Mateo finished second in the Bay to Aragon – a huge accomplishment considering the program’s Ocean-to-Bay leap and the fact that the Bay sent five teams to the Central Coast Section playoffs. The Bearcats (11-5-2) then took aim at their first playoff win since reaching the Division I semifinals in 1995, but they lost 4-2 to Los Gatos in an opening-round game in a loaded Division II bracket.

Turtletaub led the team into the postseason with 18 goals and six assists. But her leadership and ability to inspire her teammates had at least as much to do with the Bearcats’ storybook season.

“She really brings an ambience about her when she's on the field,” San Mateo coach Daire O’Connor said. “When she was absent we really missed her because she brings up the energy of the team, she brings up everybody’s level of play.”

Turtletaub was sidelined during the season with injuries to both ankles and to a shoulder. She missed her entire freshman soccer season after undergoing surgeries on both knees after freshman volleyball.

She said she’s learned to tune out the pain, drawing on adrenaline to mask it.

“I’ve learned to play through it,” she said. “I’ve learned to not let it slow me down.”

Teammates say they’ve never heard Turtletaub complain.

“She's always like, ‘Oh no, I'm OK,’ but you can tell she's in a lot of pain,” San Mateo junior forward Shannon Wischer said. “I think she inspires all of us to push harder. She’s just a really tough kid.”

The end of Turtletaub’s San Mateo career could mark the end of her participation in organized soccer, which began when she was 5. She has been recruited by several junior colleges and Division III schools, but is debating whether she’ll continue playing in college.

“I’m still undecided,” she said. “I’ve gone through a lot of injuries so I think I'm going to take a break for now.”

Turtletaub said academics come first anyway. Although known on campus as a two-sport star, she has excelled in the classroom too. Turtletaub was awarded a National Merit Scholarship for exceptional PSAT scores, and has maintained a 3.8 GPA.

O’Connor believes Turtletaub has the potential to be an impact college player, noting that she compares favorably to several PAL recruits he’s seen the last few years. But he acknowledged that her health is a concern.

“A healthy Katelyn could play Division I,” he said.

Turtletaub counts playing for the Olympic Development Program and being named the captain of the Bearcats and her Peninsula Blast club team among her career highlights.

She credits her father, Greg, who coached most of her youth and club teams, with the development of her trademark finishing skills – something that O’Connor says sets her apart from her elite-level peers in the talent-rich Peninsula soccer scene.

“A lot of it is about focusing in the moment,” Turtletaub said. “He taught me to keep my focus and not look away, to make the best of every (scoring) chance.

“I've been able to take his advice and bring it into my game.”