In the final round of nationals, the game was tied at zero. Despite going into double-overtime, both teams remained scoreless. The Dallas Texans and San Diego Surf were heading to penalty kicks. After six players from each team took their individual shots on goal, the game remained tied at 5. As the next player for the Texans started toward the goal, senior Ariana Zargarian’s mind was blank.
“You would think that I would be thinking something [as the goalkeeper], but I’m not,” Ariana said. “I just go off of my instinct.”
In the net opposite of Ariana stood one of the best keepers in the country, Abby Smith. They both knew that game could be decided by the next shot and that, if they didn’t block it, they would likely lose the match that determined the best team in the country. But Ariana wasn’t thinking of any of this; she was zoned in to the game, ready to execute the skills she had developed over the last 11 years of goalkeeping.
Ariana blocked the ball.
“It was the best feeling ever,” she said. “I knew that no matter what happens, we’re still in the game. We’re definitely not out. The worst that could happen is that our team missed the next kick and then we just go to the 8th round [of penalty kicks]. We definitely could not lose because I just saved it. I was shaking. It was seriously the most intense moment of my life.”
The crowd picked up the intensity as well. The sideline was swamped and spectators were crowded behind the goal. The complex at the Citizens Bank Fields was packed.
Junior Sarah Adams, a center-midfielder on San Diego Surf, went up to take the shot against Smith.
And she scored.
The crowd went wild. Her team rushed onto the field, dancing and yelling. Ariana said this moment was one of the best of her life as a goalkeeper.
The win was amazing, but despite winning Nationals, which is the highest a youth soccer team can go, Ariana says that the part that strengthens her the most is simply playing on a team.
“There are a lot of life lessons learned in playing for a team,” she said. “It’s taught me that no one person is responsible. Everyone contributes to a loss or a win.”
[Originally published in Vol. IX of Currents]