Hilton Head Prep wins girls soccer State Championship

There is a saying among high school coaches that tradition never graduates — but only the very best coaches can use it with authority.

Risa McMillan can utter it with extreme confidence.

McMillan’s Hilton Head Prep girls soccer program proved it once again this spring, turning what their coach expected to be more of a rebuilding year into a victory lap for six seniors, including four who capped their high school careers with a fourth consecutive state title.
This one was the most unlikely of the bunch, and thus the sweetest for McMillan, who gave up her longtime tradition of building a murderer’s row of a customized schedule and instead stuck to the boys’ team’s more standard slate, expecting a dropoff in talent after graduating an uber-talented senior class led by prolific goal-scorer Callah Dando.

With only six returning starters, McMillan had all but conceded that the streak would end this year. By midseason, she had changed her tune and was cautiously optimistic even in the face of mounting injury concerns, noting she’d underestimated the talent of eighth-graders Alice Carmines and Adrianna Palazzo — the duo that would lead the Dolphins to glory once more last Saturday in Columbia.

The Dolphins had to scrap a couple of games from their schedule to nurse players back to health, and they finished a 4-0 defeat at the hands of Hilton Head Christian Academy with just eight healthy players, and goalie Brooke Heins was not among them. Still, they soldiered on, playing games with as few as nine or 10 players and still winning.

Prep limped into the championship game against undefeated Greenwood Christian with just enough players to field a lineup and no subs to spare, so the Dolphins appeared doomed when it was deadlocked at 2 after 90 minutes and nothing had changed through two 10-minute overtime periods or the first of two five-minute golden goal sessions.

They were out of gas, and nearly out of time, 90 seconds from heading to a penalty shootout, when lightning struck.

Carmines headed a throw-in to Palazzo, who used her noggin to knock it to her foot and blasted the game-winner into the back of the net, repaying Heins for a sensational showing in goal with 22 athletic saves that kept the dangerous Eagles at bay.

“These girls won today with their hearts because they certainly did not have any legs left with no subs all game,” McMillan said. “That was almost 120 minutes of soccer going full-out, playing against an undefeated team with fresh legs. The toughness that took really defies the imagination.”

That’s the sort of magic that comes from true belief, something the Dolphins have come by honestly over the years, repeatedly hoisting a trophy at the end of the season while others were licking their wounds. They found a way to win Saturday, because that’s what they’ve always done.

“We knew we had to play for each other and leave every last effort out on the field,” said Riley Wilbert, one of four seniors leaving with a fistful of state championship rings along with Sophia Schlieman, Madeline Schlieman, and Samantha Rehling.

“We pushed through and gave everything we had,” Sophia Schlieman said. “Even as tired as we were, we knew we had to give it our all and put up a fight.”
Tradition never graduates.

Justin Jarrett is the sports editor of The Island News and is the founder of Lowco Sports. He has a passion for sports and community journalism and a questionable sense of humor.