During her last block of the day on Tuesday, Nov. 28, junior Ari Kaufman noticed several missed calls from members of the varsity girls soccer team. “I looked down at my phone and I had four missed calls from Lily Nye and a few missed calls from Ellie Knoll and Ross [Ireland] too. So I was like, ‘something’s happening,’” Kaufman said. “And then I answer Lily’s call. And she says, ‘I’m gonna put Ross on the phone.’ And he essentially said, ‘Can you come to the field in like, now? If you do, you’ll be on the roster.’ And I was like, ‘I don’t have any gear, but I can be there.’ And so he was like, ‘We’ll figure it out.’”
When she had missed these calls, Kaufman wasn’t on the varsity girls soccer team. She wasn’t even playing soccer this year. However, sophomore goalie Bianca Putanec was out due to an injury and junior backup goalie Ava Mitchell was also unable to play. “Our official backup, who’s a field player, Ava Mitchell, a junior — the plan was for her to jump in,” girls soccer head coach Ross Ireland said. “And I did not find out until two o’clock that day that she is ineligible [to play in the game] because she’s a transfer from Castilleja. I thought her period of ineligibility lapsed. Turns out, she couldn’t play until the new year.”
With both goalies unable to play in a game against Sequoia High School, Kaufman was called up with less than an hour to prepare. “I get to the field at like 2:30 p.m. — the game started at 3 p.m. — […] and I’m in, like, pajamas […]. So I ended up in Sierra [Shaw]’s sweatpants. Ellie [Knoll]’s cleats, an extra shirt, extra gloves — nothing was mine. I had like, 15 minutes of warm-up,” Kaufman said.
The game itself ended tied at 3-3. Ireland said that Kaufman has since been a great teammate. “She hadn’t played in goal since last February for the JV team. […] And she did tremendously well against a really strong team who didn’t have many shots but she made some key saves,” Ireland said. “She’s been a fantastic teammate, and she’s been the center of the conversation on the sideline.”
“It was really weird I was like, ‘What the heck just happened?’” Kaufman said. Despite the short notice, Kaufman was thankful for the support that the team offered. “Of course everyone on the team was super sweet, which I really appreciated. […] Everyone was wonderful,” Kaufman said.
Kaufman played as a backup goalie for the varsity girls soccer team for the rest of the season. “I had a fun time in the game, I enjoyed playing. And yeah, Bianca is back and she’s gonna do incredible. I’m so, so, grateful to be her backup. I think she’s amazing,” she said following that initial game.
