ISLANDERS, DOLPHINS TO FACE OFF FOR GIRLS SOCCER TITLE

By Carmen Gogue

The John F. Kennedy Islanders and Southern Dolphins are set to battle on the pitch once again for the Girls High School Soccer Championship. Last year in the 2023 ISA Girls Soccer League, the Islanders capped off a perfect season defeating the Dolphins 4-0 in the title match.

This 2024 season, the Guam Football Association organized the Interscholastic Girls High School Football League allowing both IIAAG and ISA schools to compete under one league for the first time since 2019. After facing a wider array of competition in the newly combined public and private school league, the Islanders have remained undefeated heading into the Championship match against their top opponent the Dolphins. While JFK has rolled along with zero losses and one scoreless draw against the St. John’s Knights, Southern has compared well with only one loss that arrived at the hands of the Islanders.

Semi-Finals Action

Islanders Knock Out Eagles

In the earlier semi-final game, JFK cruised past the fourth seeded Harvest Eagles 5-2 Monday afternoon at the Guam High field. The Eagles are only the second team this season to score a goal on the Islanders and better yet two goals despite the semi-final loss.

Forward Annie Jones netted four goals, two in each half to lead the pace pushing Islanders offense. Jodee Halili contributed one goal.

The Islanders controlled the game early on with keeping the ball in scoring range. Jones moved swiftly into a centered position right in front of the Eagles goal box to shoot in the Islanders first goal. However, the Eagles defense was determined to slow down the Islanders attacks holding them to a 1-0 lead up until mid-point of the half. JFK continued to send shots from every angle as Harvest goalkeeper and defenders made key stops to hold off more scored goals.

Halili dribbled past her Eagle opponents as she took a shot from the left side scoring the second goal to lead 2-0. Battling for possessions, JFK’s offense began making exceptional passes. Jaelyn Han dribbled down the sideline to send a perfect pass to the middle to find Jones charging for a quick shot to score her second goal of the game and increase her team’s lead to 3-0 just minutes before the end of the first half.

After the halftime, the Eagles kept up a strong defense but with Jones on the field fired up, she managed to score her third goal for a hat trick with JFK leading 4-0. She didn’t stop there, shortly after Jones scored her fourth for a haul and the final goal for the Islanders.

As the Islanders were leading 5-0, the Eagles drove on to score two goals, one each by Caden Milner and Kylie Guzman before the final whistle. Prior to this game, only the Academy Cougars were able to score a goal against the dominating Islanders and now the Eagles, who have achieved scoring two though suffering the loss.

By Matt Lorenzo

Dolphins Squeeze by Panthers

The Southern Dolphins punched their ticket back to the Girls High School Soccer Championship after squeezing by the sixth seeded Guam High Panthers 3-2 in an overtime joust.

The game started off with a strong defensive presence from both teams, with the ball going back and forth multiple times. The fans didn’t go bored though as attackers from both teams made some close shots that nearly saw the back of the net. The most notable attack from the first half was from panther Nykale Penn who seemingly teleported with the ball along the length of the pitch only going down when an army of dolphin defenders finally got the ball out of play.

The second half started hot with Panthers star Penn drilling one in showing a dominant display of speed and ball handling. Penn also sped past multiple dolphin defenders netting the Panthers’ other goal. The Dolphins came to play, not getting discouraged being down, the mumbles of affirmations were apparent after the goal. It proved to work because Captain Analea Meno netted the dolphins first goal of the night from just outside the box.

Down one goal, Junior Cindy Maestrocampo netted the equalizer sending the game into overtime. The first half of overtime went scoreless but notable advances were made by Penn, and Meno. The second half of overtime, Southern’s fan section got noticeably louder, with cheers being shouted and what even sounded like the Dolphins alma matter being played over a speaker. The cheers seemed to work with Maestrocampo as she got her second goal of the night with a shot from the right side of the box to win the game 3-2.

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