Pilot Cup girls’ 5-6 silver division: St. John breaks through with title

COSTA MESA — The last time St. John the Baptist Catholic School won a Daily Pilot Cup title – in any division, grade level or gender – today’s St. John’s fifth- and sixth-grade girls team was either in kindergarten or preschool.

But the girls came of age Sunday, in the silver division championship of the Daily Pilot Cup, beating Mariners Christian, 5-1, at the Jack Hammett Sports Complex.

The Irish dominated the field, outscoring five opponents, 19-1.

“We’ve been going after it for four years now,” St. John head coach Chris Ware said. “So it’s nice to bring a trophy home to St. John.”

Sister Mary Vianney, principal at St. John’s for more than 31 years, watched the game and enjoyed the result.

“It’s exciting for the girls,” Vianney said. “The girls did really well today.”

Two girls, Julia Ware and Julia Barajas, carried the day. Both scored two goals, using different styles. Ware, a tall girl with long braided hair, scored the first goal of the game, on a free kick from more than 20 yards away.

“Their goalie was kind of small,” Ware said. “So I sailed it past her.”

Barajas used plenty of speed on both of her goals, including one in the 15th minute in which she came from five yards behind her defender, then she charged to the ball and put it past the goalie on a breakaway.

In a postgame photo, Barajas was fittingly carried by two of her teammates, since she helped carry the scoring load.

“That was great,” Barajas said. “I scored on through balls.”

With two minutes left in the game, Mariners Christian’s Nicole Nesbit broke the scoreless streak and put one past a backup goalie, off a corner kick by Makena Houston.

“It was cool,” Nesbit said. “We’re having fun playing together. Last year, we didn’t win a game.”