Wichita girls soccer team wins ‘fairy tale’ national championship in honor of teammate

Nerves don’t typically come before soccer games for Milan Hunter, but this game was anything but typical.

She was preparing to play for a national championship on her home field at Scheels Stryker Sports Complex, but that’s not why Hunter and her teammates on the 2006 Kansas Rush Wichita Academy team were steeling themselves for the National Presidents Cup U-17 girls soccer final on Tuesday morning.

They were desperate to fulfill what they believed to be their destiny, to “do it for Kilar,” which had become the team’s lodestar in the two years since their former teammate, Kilar Gillispie, had died at the age of 15.

“This was way bigger than just a game for us,” Rush goalkeeper Avery Mason said. “Since Kilar passed, every single game has meant so much to us.”

Every player on the team wore black “KG7” armbands during games, and “Do it for Kilar” flags waved up and down the sideline of the team’s games.

But the most touching tribute came from Hunter, who was best friends and soccer teammates with Gillispie since the age of 4. After the tragedy, Hunter made the heavy decision to start wearing Gillispie’s No. 7 jersey to carry on her legacy.

It’s not uncommon for Hunter, a scoring dynamo at Circle High School, to find the back of the net, but it wasn’t hard to see why those on Kansas Rush Wichita felt like Tuesday’s championship game was straight out of Hollywood when Hunter, wearing the No. 7 jersey, scored the winning goal in a 1-0 victory over Rebel Elite FC from St. George, Utah.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that Kilar was with us on the field today,” Hunter said. “To be able to score that goal, wearing her jersey, it’s literally crazy. It’s a moment I’ll never forget. That’s once-in-a-lifetime stuff.”

After scoring in the 61st minute, Hunter raced to the sideline where Josh and Cree Gillispie, Kilar’s parents, were watching and draped herself in a “Do it for Kilar” flag to celebrate the goal.

The Gillispies were shedding tears of joy. Just before the goal, Cree saw a blue butterfly onto the field. The next thing they knew, the No. 7 jersey was scoring a goal.

“I don’t want to make a mythical situation out of this, but I knew Milan would be the one. I knew Kilar would be the one with the No. 7 jersey,” Josh Gillispie said. “I don’t want to make this about us because it’s about every one of those kids who won the game. I’ve never seen anything like it. To be honest, it was an absolute fairy tale.”

For the past two years, Adam Hunter, the team’s coach and Milan’s father, has watched a group of teenage girls try to navigate through heartbreak. He coached both of Kilar’s older sisters, Kenzi and Keila, who are now on the K-State women’s soccer team. He has seen the anguish and felt it himself.

Adam Hunter, the head coach of the Butler Community College women’s soccer team, has been on the sidelines for conference championship wins and NJCAA Final Four games. Nothing could have prepared him for the emotions that rushed through him watching his daughter score on Tuesday.

“When Milan scored, there were still 20 minutes left and I had to try to gather myself and walk away from our bench and basically try not to cry,” Adam Hunter said. “I have never been in a moment like that before. And it didn’t have anything to do with soccer. I’ve seen the pain my own daughter has gone through and the love she has for the Gillispies and when she scored that goal, it all kind of hit me that we’re going to materialize this thing.”

That love is what keeps the Gillispies coming back to watch Kansas Rush Wichita games.

“These girls are all like a bunch of daughters to us,” Josh Gillispie said. “Our kids started playing for this club at a very young age and Adam Hunter has done so much for our family and we’ve stayed loyal to them. Those kids did an amazing job out there and it’s been an absolute pleasure that our family was able to be a part of it.”

In fact, the team gives credit to Josh Gillispie and his speeches to the team before and after games for giving them the extra motivation to win.

“It’s easy to say, ‘I’m thinking of you and I’m praying for you,’ but to have them still be so involved and so present, I really think it makes winning for Kilar something so tangible for these kids,” Adam Hunter said. “It’s not just something we’re going to say, it’s something we’re going to do because it’s what we truly mean and how we truly feel and this is important to us. Them being there made it real for these young girls.”

The Kansas Rush Wichita championship team also featured Cassidy Boyer (Derby), Madeline Bracy (Eisenhower), Reese Fleming (Andover Central), Merari Flores (Northwest), Sophia Fury (Kapaun Mt. Carmel), Raylen Grant (Northwest), Amiyah Hamilton-Arevalo (East), Carly Hummell (Eisenhower), Anahi Ibarra-Arevalo (Northwest), Cate Johnson (Andover), Genevieve Lamarche (Maize South), Kayla Methman (Southeast), Shirdaria Pottard (Southeast), Izzy Sandoval (Newton), Bridget Sherman (Kapaun Mt. Carmel) and Carson Sloan (Kapaun Mt. Carmel).

“I can’t even describe how special of a bond that this team has,” said Mason, who made a handful of critical saves to preserve the shutout victory. “I’ve been on this team since I was 7 and we have a lot of the same players. Just the way we connect on and off the field, we’re all in this together.”

Around the same time as the U-17 Rush team won their title, the U-16 Rush girls soccer team captured their own national championship at Scheels Stryker Sports Complex.

The 2007 Kansas Rush Wichita team survived a scoreless 110 minutes in the championship game against Allegheny (Penn.) Force FC, then prevailed in the fifth round of a shootout when goalkeeper Parker Clark (Maize) made a save and Ashlynn Stipp (Circle) converted the game-winner from the spot.

Just like in the other final, a father coached his daughter’s team and watched as his daughter scored the title-clinching goal.

“It’s an amazing feeling when you get to coach your kid in a big moment and they are successful in that big moment,” said coach Travis Stipp. “It’s a lot of pressure to put on a 16-year-old kid to step up and try to win a national title. But she did it. And I’m grateful I was able to be there.”

The under-16 girls team also featured Emma Bachman (Eisenhower), Brynn Bachura (Andover Central), Heide Bartel (Kapaun), Victoria Berends (Kapaun), Ellie Bower (McPherson), Avery Cantwell (Circle), Caleigh Cross (Valley Center), Teaonna Gitahi (Campus), Haley Green (Trinity), Brinley Hedden (Goddard), Amelia Leggett (Derby), Itzelle Lumbreras (Bishop Carroll), Mia Powell (Southeast), Bailey Stanley (Manhattan) and Xaydi Valdivia (Newton).