Hopwood reclaims girls soccer tiara

It was a battle of reptiles in the championships once again, but this time, the southside Hopwood Middle School Hilitais got the better of the Saipan International School Geckos in a lopsided 10-1 final to claim the 2025-2026 PSS-NMIFA Girls Middle School Soccer League title on Tuesday at the NMI Soccer Training Center.

The Hilitais’ strategy of high pressing and long shots paid off as evident to their 10 goals. Their almost nonstop bombardment and pressure on the defense even caused an own goal in the 42nd minute after a corner kick by Anica Aquino.

Throughout, the Hilitais had the upper hand with majority of the possession and conversion of attempts at the goal. The first one came off the cleat of Anica Aquino just three minutes into the match which set the tone for the rest of gameplay. It was a level playing field 10 minutes later after the Geckos’ Leilani Ruszala shot in a penalty to get them on board. But, HMS’ Darshwana Chhetri put them up again in the 13th minute for a 2-1 game.

After that, SIS couldn’t find the back of the net as HMS’ defense had the ball on lockdown. The Geckos had multiple chances at the net, but were trumped either by saves by HMS’ keeper Hayven Moteisou, or by their defense-line. It was all Hilitais from there as Aubygale Castro scored in the 20th, and Angel Calayag went back-to-back for a 5-1 lead.

The second half was yet another onslaught of goals by the Hilitais as Chhetri got on board again, joined by Princess Gariguez who shot two, and Calayag once more.

For her exceptional work overall during the finals, Chhetri was named the Most Valuable player.

The most goals in the whole season was scored by Calayag with 18, who was honored with the Golden Boot Award.

With Chhetri, Aquino, Castro, Gariguez, Calayag, and Moteisou, were Grace Arkoh, Anna Becina, Naliya Daikichy, Althea De Belen, Luwaisor Fitial, Trisha Herrera, Sa Rang Lee,, Juana Nocos, Athitaya Sawikan, Manyah Villagomez, and Lara Zapanta.

Third place went to Dandan Middle School in a thrilling overtime shootout, (6)2-2(5), against Tanapag Middle School.

Chhetri, a sixth grader, said of the win, “It was great. It was a tough challenge, but to be honest, nothing would be possible without God… to all my friends out there, I’m very proud of them.” She then said, “Thank you to my family for supporting me throughout my journey—even though I fail, I pick myself up and try again.”

Coach Didiich Tudela said of claiming the championship after falling short against SIS last season, “Awesome. It feels great. Our girls worked really hard—calling for practice whether it’s raining or not and they showed off their skills with each game from regular season, leading up to the knock-out round, and finally the championship. So now, we just have to work hard for next school year again and each school year so long as our girls are willing to play and represent Hopwood Middle School.”