Miraculous goal launches Wichita East to back-to-back North Cup soccer titles
As senior Josie Goodpasture walked toward her free kick spot, a parent beyond the fence told her, almost absurdly, to go for goal from 45 yards out.
The request seemed and was audacious. Goodpasture was just inside the football numbers and a hair inside the 30-yard line. She struck it with venom, and it carried over the East attackers in the 18-yard box. It flew above the goalkeeper and nestled flawlessly into the top left corner of the goal. She threw her hands up in disbelief.
“I’ve got a pretty big foot,” she said. “I wear a size 6 but have got a solid strike.”
Goodpasture’s goal opened the scoring, and senior forward Sophia Botello’s chipped goal halfway through the first half proved to be the difference in the 2019 North Cup championship. East beat rival North 2-1, winning back-to-back titles in Wichita’s premier late-season tournament.
Although Goodpasture’s goal was jaw-dropping and vital to East’s regional seeding and the North Cup title, it arguably wasn’t the best goal of the game or even the first half. As part of a exhausting first 40 minutes, North senior Nayeli Gallo scored the Redskins lone goal without looking.
After earning a free kick about 30 yards from goal, Gallo crashed across the 18-yard box, but East sophomore defender Tristan Perry was in front of her. On a whim, Gallo wrapped her right leg around Perry’s waist and poked the ball first-time off the volley. It carried over East’s All-Metro goalkeeper Maria Vega and bounced in.
East coach Dylan Gruntzel said at halftime that he called Perry and Vega aside and told them they had it marked perfectly.
“I said, ‘Great players find ways to put the ball in the back of the net,’” he said. “It’s the same thing in basketball. LeBron James is going to find a way to make the shot. I was just glad we held her to one.”
After an end-to-end first half, the East defense went to work in the second to quiet Gallo, one of Kansas’ top scorers and most skilled on-ball players.
East senior Brynn Walker, another All-Metro selection last year and one of the top defenders in the state, said goals like what Gallo scored in the first half are going to happen.
“We’re not going to stop her from doing great things,” she said. “She is too good to stop, but containing her was important.”
Given North’s free-flowing system, which Gruntzel praised after the match, East senior midfielders Suzannah Young, Maritza Cabrales and others locked in to close the gaps, especially when Gallo got on the ball.
Young said since Gruntzel moved sophomore Yossi Villagrana back into the midfield, the group has been meshing well.
“We know what (Gallo) can do, and we know she’s probably the best player on the field,” Young said. “We just had to come in with a mentality of defending as a group, and I think we did a really good job of that today.”
Although East celebrated the win Saturday afternoon, the Aces aren’t out of the woods. East and North meet again Tuesday on the Aces’ senior night in what will undoubtedly go a long way in determining the City League champion.
Four teams enter the final week of the regular season tied at the top of the table with one loss. East and North are two, joining Bishop Carroll and Kapaun.
East has gone through some turbulence this season internally that carried onto the field. The Aces finished fourth in the Titan Classic to start the season and suffered a 4-0 home thrashing to Carroll on April 18. Since then, they are 5-0, including a North Cup title.
“Sometimes as individuals on our team, our confidence is very low, so going into this game and finishing it like we did, I think that really boosted that for us,” Young said. “Your mindset is so important, and winning this game really assured us that we can do this.”
Remaining schedules
Bishop Carroll
vs. Wichita Northwest, Tuesday
at Wichita Heights, Thursday
Kapaun Mt. Carmel
at Wichita West, Tuesday
vs. Wichita East, Thursday
Wichita East
vs. Wichita North, Tuesday
at Kapaun Mt. Carmel, Thursday
Wichita North
at Wichita East, Tuesday