Advertisement

Girls’ 3-4 Gold: Andersen is back

Share

It was once close to a sure thing that Andersen Elementary would win the girls’ third- and fourth-grade Gold Division title at the Daily Pilot Cup soccer tournament.

The Dolphins racked up seven straight titles in the division from 2002-2008, but none since.

Well, maybe it’s time to say that Andersen is back.

Riley Garbutt, Ava Frederickson, Brea Sofferman and Izzy Garza all scored goals as Andersen blanked Our Lady Queen of Angels, 4-0, to capture the title Sunday at Jack Hammett Sports Complex.

Advertisement

“It’s been nice to bring it back,” said Dolphins Coach Sean Corcoran, who coached the team along with Nate Olson. “We have a really talented group of fourth grade girls. Most of them have played together since AYSO, and a lot of them play club together still.”

Andersen actually lost its first game of the tournament, 1-0, to Lincoln on Thursday. But the Dolphins responded with four straight wins, each of them by at least three goals, including a 3-0 semifinal win over Pegasus earlier Sunday.

Goalkeeper Reese Olson and Morgan Corcoran, Millie Clark and Paige Phillips helped lead a defense that allowed just three goals in the tournament, one of those on a penalty kick.

“Every team has a tough game in a tournament,” Sean Corcoran said. “Luckily, ours was our first game ... It was nice to come back and really gain our momentum throughout the tournament, which is what we did after that first game.”

Most of the Andersen players were on the team that made it to the Silver Division finals last year before losing, 1-0, to St. John the Baptist. That helped provide motivation this season.

They certainly came out strong in the championship match. Garbutt and Sofferman kept peppering Our Lady Queen of Angels goalie Ashtyn Tierney with shots in the first half.

Yet the OLQA defense, also led by Anabelle Frazier and Megan Swatsek, as well as identical twins Ella and Sofia Bonanno, managed to keep it together. That was true until Garbutt scored the first goal of the game, 22 minutes into the 25-minute first half.

“I knew I was going to miss it if I didn’t take my time,” said Garbutt, who led Andersen with six goals in the tournament. “I dribbled up slowly then I put it in the corner.”

Things got easier for Andersen after halftime, though OLQA nearly tied the score on Holly Hopkins’ breakaway chance early in the second half. But Reese Olson was able to come out and grab the ball.

Frederickson then scored for Andersen, assisted by Kirsten Dauderman, to double the Dolphins’ lead in the 37th minute. Dauderman was one of two third-graders for the Andersen side, along with Lindsay Neil.

Andersen added two more goals in the final minutes. The first came when Sofferman dribbled into the box and booted the ball into the left corner. The Dolphins’ fourth goal, just before the final whistle, happened after Morgan Corcoran’s free kick from the left bounced off the crossbar. Garza was there for the rebound goal.

At just 4 feet tall — or as she put it, 48 inches — Garza was the smallest one on the field. But she was also one of the most competitive.

“I just try to ignore my height,” she said. “If they just look at me that way, that they’re going to get past me, then I get fierce and then I just kick it.”

Emily Cloherty and Megan Schaffer also contributed for Andersen. The Dolphins had a couple of alumni watching their younger sisters in Eliza Clark, who will be a sophomore at Villanova University, and Corona del Mar High freshman Hana Cloherty.

Eliza Clark knows about Andersen’s tradition, as she won three titles at the Pilot Cup on teams coached by Dave Scott. What she wasn’t used to was the professional-looking iron-on numbers that Andersen’s players wore this year on their shirts, with their first name above the number on the back.

“We used to write on them with Sharpies, put our names on the back,” Eliza Clark said. “[Millie] brought hers back and she was like, ‘Can you iron this on?’ and I was like, ‘Why are we doing this?’ But it looks cute.”

Our Lady Queen of Angels Coach Rebecca Tierney was very proud of her players, who beat Lincoln, 3-2 in penalty kicks, in a semifinal match earlier Sunday after the teams played to a scoreless draw through regulation. Gigi Hendricks, Frazier and Sofia Bonanno scored the goals in the shootout, and Ashtyn Tierney made two saves.

Ashtyn Tierney made four saves in the championship match, and was also presented with a sportsmanship award at the awards ceremony that concluded the tournament.

Other contributors for the large Our Lady Queen of Angels team included Ashlynn Arthur, Olivia Morris, Rylie Gaughan, Isabella Castillo, Olivia Reddy, Ireland MacDonald, Kate Vanis, Nicole Quick, Kate Boyd, Emily Rodosky, Harper Butcher and Kylie Hughes.

“From a unity standpoint, these girls played their hearts out and came together, and that’s all you can ask,” Rebecca Tierney said.

Andersen still was able to claim the third-and fourth-grade girls’ Gold Division trophy for the first time since 2008. That team had notable Corona del Mar High standouts like Maddie Musselman, Caroline Bethel, Payton Carter, Heidi Ritner, Kat Hess and Courtney Johnston on it.

Many of these Andersen girls will also make it to CdM soon enough. But for now, winning that trophy in the Pilot Cup feels great.

“It’s been a long year for us to wait to try to come back and get that win,” Sean Corcoran said.

Advertisement