Girls’ 5-6 Gold: Last-second goal lifts Marlins in Pilot Cup
The rematch, in the girls’ fifth- and sixth-grade Gold Division final of the Daily Pilot Cup on Sunday, was less of a mismatch than the first encounter between Mariners Elementary and Davis.
It took just more than the typically allotted duration of the soccer match, in fact, to decide things, as Mariners scored with about 10 seconds left in the second minute of extra time to dramatically prevail, 2-1, at Jack Hammett Sports Complex.
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Samantha Wallis stepped into a shot from about 25 yards directly in front of the goal and rolled the ball just inside the left goal post, past a diving goalkeeper to spark a wild celebration and cap the Marlins’ second win of the tournament against the Ducks.
“I didn’t think it was going in, because it was kind of soft,” Wallis said of the winning goal, which finalized a 21-6 shot advantage for the winners. “But it did.”
The late tally helped Mariners avert penalty kicks against a Davis team it handled, 4-1, in both teams’ opening match of the tournament.
After Reese Bodas leaned into a header to score from close range off a corner kick by Lily Moore to put Mariners up, 1-0, in the game’s first minute, the Marlins continued the offensive barrage on their way to a 13-1 shot advantage in the first 30-minute half.
But Davis, with lanky goalkeeper Emily “Mighty Em” Elliott making four of her five saves before intermission, withstood the onslaught to stay within striking distance.
It was striking from distance that allowed the Ducks to pull even in the 48th minute, when Faith Nguyen launched a 40-yard shot into the net for the equalizer.
But Wallis, who along with an arsenal of teammates that helped the Marlins use 13 scorers to amass their 19 goals in five tournament triumphs, kept firing away until Mariners produced the game-winner.
Mariners, which won the girls’ third- and fourth-grade Silver and Gold Division titles in 2012 and 2013, respectively, and was eliminated in the fifth- and sixth-grade Gold Division quarterfinals last year, had not been seriously tested in its four previous tournament matches.
In addition to its aforementioned opening-round victory over Davis, it topped Harbor Day, 5-1, Andersen, 5-0, and downed semifinal opponent Eastbluff, 3-0, behind goals from Moore, Emma Wallis and Samantha Wallis.
“We did not want to go to PKs with [Davis],” Mariners Coach Todd Moore said.
But Davis, led by midfielders Nguyen and Frida “Tiger” Molina, forwards Sophia De Marzo and Erin Galvin, as well as Elliott, who was shifted into the field about 20 minutes into the second half, refused to fully honor its underdog label.
“We were the underdogs, because we lost to them, 4-1, at the beginning of the tournament,” Davis Coach Joel De Marzo said. “But [the Marlins] didn’t expect that game.
“[The Marlins] deserved that win,” Joel De Marzo said. “They had some good skill up front. Take nothing away from them.”
Davis defenders Koko Tachiki and Jewel Rubright helped the Ducks diffuse several Mariners scoring chances, continuing a trend that saw the Ducks allow only two goals in their first four tournament contests, including a pair of 3-0 thumpings.
Davis prevailed, 3-1, in penalty kicks against Kaiser in a semifinal that was deadlocked, 1-1, through regulation.
Sophia De Marzo had the semifinal goal in regulation to up her team-leading total to four, while Nguyen entered the final with three assists.
But Mariners’ waves of talent and togetherness that included the Wallis sisters, Malia Berkenfield, Zoe Bixby, Brielle Benedict and midfield standout Lily Kwong kept the action in the Marlins’ attacking zone most of the game.
“We have such a deep team,” Todd Moore said, “from our big girls in the midfield to our goal scorers to our keeper [Lindsey Blanchfield, who made three saves]. So, hats off to the girls. I’ve always told the girls that there was never a coach that won the Pilot Cup. It will always be the players.”
Katie Egan, Jenna Egan, Maya Nadeau, Emma Kenney, Emma Kubiak and Kate Hess rounded out the contributors for the champions, who outscored tournament foes, 19-3.
Additional contributors for Davis included Brooke Bertrand, Presley Burnham, Jade Young, Jade Rubright, Rachel Friedland, Jackie Corkhill, Lauren Flanrois and Holly Bordonali.