Girls’ 5-6 Silver Division: Killybrooke comes through in shootout
Isabelle Whittaker put on her gloves and threw on a mesh jersey over her T-shirt. She looked ready to play goalkeeper for the first time in the Daily Pilot Cup Silver Division finals.
Keeper is where Whittaker said she normally plays when she’s not competing with her fifth- and sixth-grade classmates at Killybrooke Elementary, but her Killybrooke needed her services in the midfield against a girls’ team in Andersen B making its third straight finals appearance in the youth soccer tournament.
After no team scored during 60 minutes of regulation, Killybrooke moved Whittaker to keeper. Before the start of penalty kicks, Whittaker’s father, Steve, called her to the side.
“He told me to just try my best and to not give up,” said Whittaker, adding that she was scared and nervous, all of it making sense. “Just a little while ago I was at my [younger] sister [Maya’s] game and they lost in PKs, so I kind of felt that we were going to lose, too.”
Killybrooke did not lose, thanks to Whittaker.
Whittaker made three big stops during the shootout, and Brianna Calderon, Jocelyn Ortiz and Makaila Gallardo each converted a shot, helping Killybrooke win the penalty kicks, 3-2, and the championship at the Jack Hammett Sports Complex.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Killybrooke Coach Julio Calderon said to his players of winning the title. “I don’t know if we’re going to be back next year.”
Calderon said he has been trying to build a strong team the past three years, hoping in his daughter Brianna’s final year participating in the Daily Pilot Cup that Killybrooke would contend for a title. The Calderons capped their title run by taking down a dominant Andersen B side, which only allowed one goal in five matches.
The goal Andersen B gave up came on a PK in a 4-1 win against Lincoln B in the semifinals. While it was heartbreaking to watch his team’s season end on penalties, Andersen B Coach Sean Corcoran reminded his fifth-graders that this not the last time they will compete in the Daily Pilot Cup.
“We will be back,” said Corcoran, referring to him and Nate Olson coaching the same group of girls in the fifth- and sixth-grade Gold Division next year.
“We won last year as a third- and fourth-grade Gold team, and the year before that, we made it to the finals as a third- and fourth-grade Silver team.”
Killybrooke prevented Andersen B from repeating as champion.
Killybrooke boasted a lot of size, with Ortiz, Gallardo and Calderon. Ortiz and Gallardo, along with Emy Morales and Kyra Kirsch, contributed to holding Andersen B scoreless for the first time in the tournament.
Andersen B, which went into the finale with 19 goals, controlled most of the action, leading to multiple scoring chances. Morgan Corcoran, Riley Garbutt, Izzy Garza and Ava Frederickson each threatened, but Killybrooke keeper Kimberly Molina turned them away.
Molina, as well as Andersen B keeper Reese Olson, turned in impressive performances in the first and second halves. While Molina gave way to Whittaker after regulation, Olson stayed in for the penalty kicks.
Olson and Whittaker took their respective team’s first shots in the shootout. Even the keepers couldn’t score, and neither could the next three who lined up to take a shot.
Calderon ended the drought for Killybrooke, and Brea Sofferman tied it at 1-1 for Andersen B. Corcoran gave Andersen B a 2-1 lead, only to see Ortiz evened things up.
Whittaker made a save and Olson saw a shot go wide left, keeping the shootout knotted at 2-2. The next three players couldn’t find the back of the net, until Gallardo finished things off with a successful shot to the right.
“I was really nervous,” Gallardo said.
Her coach, as was almost everyone else watching, looked like a nervous wreck during the shootout.
“I can’t find any words to say [how I feel],” said Julio Calderon, whose team also included Emma Carrasco, Haley Johnson, Abigail Johnson, Melissa Luna, Kylee Zuniga and Julianna Tang-Centeno. “The girls just fought … all the way to the end.”
