DAILY PILOT CUP GIRLS 5-6 GOLD DIVISION CHAMPIONSHIP:

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COSTA MESA — Nobody was going to beat the Andersen Elementary girls’ fifth- and sixth-grade Gold Division team at the Daily Pilot Cup.

After all, you can’t lose if you don’t allow the ball into the net, and the Dolphins shined defensively all tournament long. They capped it off Sunday at the Costa Mesa Farm Complex, winning their second straight Gold Division title over Kaiser, 4-0.

Coach Dave Scott’s club outscored opponents, 19-0, in five tournament games. And, Scott said, there weren’t really any close calls either.

“It’s just nice having that comfort level,” Scott said. “Nobody really got a solid shot on goal, except for the ones that were trickling in. But you still need forwards and midfielders to keep it up there.”

Defensively, Eliza Clark, Katie Scott, Molly Keasey, sweeper Tori English and goalie Katie Craig did the job for Andersen. Craig and goalie Jamie Smith, who came in during the second half, only needed to make four saves combined.

“The defense, in my opinion, was unbelievable,” Dave Scott said. “They never panicked.”

Andersen’s girls don’t usually panic at the Pilot Cup. Six of the Andersen players — Clark, Scott, Keasey, midfielders Katharine Noe and Sabrina Roy and forward Smith — won their third straight Gold Division title in a row. They also won it in the girls’ third- and fourth-grade level two years ago.

A seventh player, McKenna Look, was on the team but out sick. For her, it was actually the fourth straight Gold Division title in a row. Despite not being able to play, Look was deemed an “assistant coach” for Andersen. At the awards ceremony, Coach Scott brought Look up with him to accept the trophy.

“We’re on different [club] teams, and AYSO,” said Keasey, who scored a goal Sunday in the final. “It’s nice to come together with our friends for the Daily Pilot Cup. We all look forward to this. This is the one time we get to play soccer competitively together, and play against other schools. It’s really nice to have that privilege.”

Andersen spent nearly the entire game in Kaiser’s half of the field. The Dolphins finally got on the board in the 23rd minute, when forward Emily Meckler scored on a nice cross by midfielder Brynn Motal.

Keasey scored just before halftime, and the Dolphins added two more goals in the second half by Motal to help put the game out of reach.

“The fun thing is that it’s not only the forwards and the midfielders,” Noe said. “The defenders get to come up and score, and we all get a chance to have the ball.”

Clark said she and her fellow defenders “just stepped it up” in the final.

“Whenever it came out [of the Kaiser end] we just kicked it back in,” she said. “We kept looking for the opportunities to shoot.”

There was no reason for Kaiser to have its head down, though. The Knights advanced to the final after an exciting 3-2 penalty-kick shootout over Eastbluff earlier Sunday.

That, Kaiser forward Delanie Gastineau said, might have been part of the problem.

“We just needed more push,” Gastineau said. “I think we were just tired from the [semifinal] game.”

The Andersen attack kept Kaiser goalie Erika Nilsson plenty busy. Nilsson finished with 13 saves.

“It was a good game,” Nilsson said. “We tried our best.”

But, for Andersen, the sixth-grade contingent got to go out of the tournament as winners. Their only close call all tournament was a 1-0 victory over Mariners in the quarterfinals.

“The Daily Pilot [Cup] is the whole excitement of the year,” Clark said. “It’s getting to the end, and we’re all winning and having so much fun together.”

ANDERSEN

Eliza Clark

Jamie Smith

Kacie Kline

Katharine Noe

Katie Scott

McKenna Look

Molly Keasey

Natalie O’Neill

Sabrina Roy

Brynn Motal

Tori English

Katie Craig

Emily Meckler

Morgan Duss

Shelby Anderson

Coach Dave Scott

KAISER

Haley Burg

Christina Arechigo

Delanie Gastineau

Kenya Avila

Daniela Vazquez

Bailey Rieke

Nicole Leal

Marlee Phillips

Rosalie Deliz

Sierra Stump

Brooke Hinton

Erika Nilsson

Coach Tony Burg

MATT SZABO may be reached at (714) 966-4614 or by e-mail at [email protected].