Dalton Academy's Ibarra among nation's most prolific goalkeepers

May 23—Chanel Ibarra made a number of saves as The Dalton Academy Lady Puma soccer team's goalkeeper in the program's first season in 2022 — and she saved in more ways than one.

The young program's roster was filled with young players, and Ibarra, a senior with only a few years of soccer experience, was one of the most soccer-tested players for the Lady Pumas headed into year one.

Ibarra was the last line of defense as the team had trouble holding down the older, more experienced offenses of most of its opposition in a season the Lady Pumas went 2-13.

Ibarra saw scores of shots come her way, and she stopped plenty of them.

"It's a very stressful position," Ibarra said. "You're the last option, and a lot of times you're very nervous. You just have to give it your all, and that's all I can do."

All she could do turned out to be quite a lot.

Ibarra ranked second in the nation in both total saves and average saves per game among teams that have entered statistics to Maxpreps.com, a website that tracks high school sports results nationwide.

Ibarra piled up 336 total saves in the 14 games she played, good for an average of 24 per contest. Her save total is shy of the 376 tallied by Kiersten Dowell of East Wilkes High School in Ronda, North Carolina, and Dowell needed 20 games to reach that total. Emma Weeks of Nikiski High School in Nikiski, Alaska, is the only player in the country in girls soccer to have posted a higher save-per-contest average at 26.5, which she did in 10 games.

"I honestly didn't even believe it when I saw it," Ibarra said of her nationally-competitive save totals. "My sister saw it and sent it to me and my family. I was genuinely shocked. To be honest, I didn't even feel like I played that well that season, but that helped seeing that."

Those saves often saved the Lady Pumas in another way. Dalton Academy had three games ended prematurely in 2022 because its opponent reaching a 10-goal advantage and triggered the end of the game via mercy rule. On several other occasions, Ibarra kept the game going to full time with her saves despite a big deficit for the Lady Pumas, giving more valuable game experience to some of the program's younger players.

"We have so many new players, but her experience and how hard she was trying regardless of the score really carried over to the other players," Dalton Academy head coach Jesus Jacobo said of Ibarra. "Not only did she keep us from getting mercy-ruled in a few games, but she was driving the engine for the team not to give up. Regardless of the score, she would come out of the goal with like a competitive anger after the ball."

One of those games was against Coahulla Creek, an eventual playoff team in Class 3A.

The Lady Colts knocked off Dalton Academy 7-0, but the game could have been over much earlier.

Ibarra tallied 56 saves in the game, her personal best for any game this season.

"I was really happy with myself after that game, because I felt like I was able to step up and give us a chance," Ibarra said.

Ibarra hadn't played organized soccer since elementary school when Jacobo approached her during her sophomore year. He was then an assistant at Dalton High School. Ibarra started out playing defense, but by her junior season, she was the starting keeper for the Dalton High junior varsity team.

"I just lost all my soccer knowledge," Ibarra said. "I had to re-learn everything."

Ibarra moved over to The Dalton Academy for her senior year, where she joined new head coach Jacobo.

Ibarra, one of the Lady Pumas' four seniors, was named a co-captain along with freshman Diana Hernandez.

"He wanted me to play for the team," Ibarra said. "I was really happy to be able to help lay the foundation. I hope more girls want to play and learn going forward."

Jacobo said that he hopes Ibarra's success in the Lady Pumas' inaugural year can help spur more interest in the program and help Dalton Academy continue to build.

"We'll miss her a lot, but there were a lot of girls that already were wanting to play goalie," Jacobo said. "I think it's definitely going to set, for the position, that someone can step in and hopefully do that for us next year."