El Modena’s Whitfield Puts Exclamation Point on Season

If the mark of an outstanding player is an ability to rise to the occasion in important games, Kaylee Whitfield is a textbook case.

Whitfield scored nine goals in five playoff games this season to lead El Modena to its first Southern Section title in girls’ soccer.

That statistic alone might be enough to warrant The Times Orange County player of the year award, but there’s more. Whitfield’s phenomenal playoff performance came on the heels of a regular season in which she scored 25 goals.

Whitfield had a lot of help from her teammates, especially forward Nicole Terry, who scored 32 goals this season, and midfielder Jill Pearson.

“As the season progressed, we all just put everything we had into playing together and we ended up doing very, very well,” Whitfield said.

El Modena won its third consecutive Century League title with a 9-1-0 record before Whitfield began her rampage through the Division II playoffs.

She scored three goals in the Vanguards’ first two playoff games, a 3-1 victory over Aliso Niguel in the first round and a 5-2 victory over Long Beach Poly in the second. But that was just a warm-up.

Whitfield was brilliant in the quarterfinals. She scored three goals, including the game-winner in the final minute of sudden death overtime, to give El Modena a 4-3 victory over Alta Loma.

Whitfield scored two goals in a 4-2 victory over Ventura Buena in the semifinals before scoring the second goal in a 2-0 victory over Canyon in the final. Whitfield drew praise from a rival coach.

“She is definitely one of the best players we have played against in the last three years,” said Matt Kinney, Canyon coach. “I’m glad to see her graduate. I hope she does well in college.”

Whitfield, who has yet to decide which college she will attend this fall, has been a three-sport athlete the last three years at El Modena. She led the cross-country team to Southern Section Division III-AA titles in 1992, ’94 and ’95 and also participated in track and field.

Last fall, Whitfield missed several high profile tournaments with her club soccer team in order to compete for the Vanguard cross-country team.

“I was so committed to El Modena and I had to be there,” she said.

A four-year starter in soccer, Whitfield set El Modena records with 91 goals and 62 assists in her career. She attributes her success to her teammates.

“It was the team unity,” she said. “All of us were friends.”