Daily Pilot Cup: Harbor View completes dominant run to title

What the Corona del Mar Harbor View Elementary girls’ third- and fourth-grade Bronze Division team lacked in age at the Daily Pilot Cup, the Vikings made up for in talent.

Coach Brad Gossen said that there were four second-graders on the team out of necessity. Second-graders Anna Rude, Isabella Carrillo, Elle Sobaski and Skyler McKinney all competed on Harbor View’s 12-player squad.

“We do it by grade at Harbor View, so there’s no intermingling,” Gossen said. “We just didn’t have enough third-graders that signed up, so we pulled up those four second-graders. All of them did very well. I’m real happy that they stepped up for us and signed up.”

Stepping up was not a problem for Harbor View, which defeated Costa Mesa Kaiser 5-0 for the Bronze Division title Sunday at the Jack Hammett Sports Complex in Costa Mesa.

Emmi Carlson had three goals for Harbor View, while Kiper Walz and Carmen Gossen added one goal each. Two of Carlson’s goals came in the first 13 minutes of the 50-minute match, when Harbor View built a 3-0 lead.

“It’s just fun,” Carlson said. “We were good at working together.”

Carlson brushed off the hat trick, which she accomplished in the 37th minute when she buried a shot into the left corner of the net.

“It’s not that exciting for me because I’ve done more,” she said. “In one [AYSO] game, I scored five [goals].”

The five team goals in the final were more than enough for Harbor View, which beat Kaiser for the second time in the tournament. The Vikings also beat the Knights 7-0 in a pool-play opener on Wednesday.

The defense also was stellar for the undefeated Vikings, who produced three shutouts in their five tournament games and allowed just four total goals. Goalkeepers Clara Galipeau and Lola Calagno did not face a shot on goal in the final. Bridget Strom, Priscilla Janz and Becca Tomac also contributed for the winners, who beat Newport Coast 4-1 in the semifinals behind two goals from Rude and one each from Walz and Carlson.

“They just played really well together,” Brad Gossen said. “We had some really good practices and scrimmages, and they just kind of gelled. The best thing about it is that everybody contributed in these five games, which is awesome. That’s not always the case.”

Kaiser also could be proud of its journey. The Knights beat Newport Elementary 5-0 in the semifinals behind a standout individual performance from forward Morgan Scheumann, who scored all five of the goals.

Lilia Horsley and Carol Topping played well in goal for Kaiser in the title match to limit the damage as much as possible. Horsley made three saves in the first half, and Topping had nine in the second half.

Kaiser was coached by Maddie Baldikoski and Grace Fay, who are both juniors at Newport Harbor High. They said this was their fifth straight year coaching the Kaiser girls’ second- and third-grade Bronze Division team, but Sunday marked the first finals appearance by the Knights in that span.

“It’s fun seeing them grow throughout the tournament,” Fay said. “A lot of them come in not knowing any of the rules about soccer, or how to dribble and stuff. You kind of see throughout the games, they start passing and dribbling.”

Amalhi Soceda, Ashlyn Hammett, Gabrielle Beneventi, Isla Little, Kailey Keliikoa, Lauren Gregory, Marla Darwich, Scarlett Horlsey and Sienna Padilla also contributed for Kaiser. Gregory was the team’s only fourth-grader.

matthew.szabo@latimes.com

Twitter: @mjszabo