Things are starting to fall into place for San Pedro High girls soccer.

Five reasons why are their young quintet of sophomore goalie and team co-captain Taylor Miller, sophomore midfielder Ashley Lopez, sophomore defender/sweeper Gabriella Ma, along with junior defenders Kirsten Bauman and Dana Cameron.

Early on in the season, the Pirates weren't having one of their strongest seasons at 1-8-1 overall under first-year head coach Elisa De La Pena-Nagle, but that was their nonleague and Pirate Cup Tournament schedule full of tough teams, but since then the Pirates have caught on fire winning all five Marine League games, including this past Wednesday's 1-0 victory at Narbonne of Harbor City.

Exactly how the Pirates, currently 6-8-1 overall this season, planned it.
Five of San Pedro's losses early on in the season have been by one goal, and that's largely in part due to the talent of Miller, a sophomore goalie who set a school record with 22 saves in a 2-0 loss to Bishop Montgomery of Torrance on December 13, 2013.
"Having Taylor as our goalie is fabulous," says Bauman, a junior defender/midfielder who has a beaming 4.15 GPA. "She makes so many great saves."
Ma, a sophomore defender/sweeper adds: "As a sweeper it comforts me to know that I have a great goalie behind me to save the goals."
What makes Miller, Bauman, Cameron, Ma and Lopez unique is that they all are very close together and gel on the field as one.
"I really enjoy playing with such a wonderful group of girls," says Lopez, who has scored four goals this season and currently owns a 4.0 GPA. "Taylor and I go way back as well as I with Gabby Ma. Taylor is such an excellent goalie and I'm so thankful that San Pedro High School has such a good group of skillful soccer players."
Bauman and Cameron have both excelled at other sports too.
Cameron has already won two City Section titles running for the girls cross-country team, and this year qualified for the CIF State cross-country meet by placing in the top ten at the City Section finals on November 19. Oh yeah, Cameron, who's GPA is 3.95, also happens to play drums as part of the popular Golden Pirate Regiment Marching Band and performed in the Rose Parade as part of the Los Angeles All-City Honor Marching Band.
Bauman is an All-Marine League second team selection playing girls volleyball for the Pirates. Longtime best friends, Bauman and Cameron didn't go far to pick their most memorable moment teaming with each other on the girls soccer team.
"When we faced Bishop Montgomery last season," Bauman says, recalling the Pirates' 3-1 road victory over the Knights during the 2012-2013 season. "Everyone was almost certain that we would lose, but then I got a free kick and scored our first goal. I was super excited and everyone got very pumped and continued to be super aggressive."
Cameron adds: "There was a feeling of real team spirit when we defeated that team with three ODP players, the team that everyone thought we would lose against. Everyone started to instantly encourage each other and we were the strongest team that night. It felt really great to win together as a team."
Cameron (two goals last season), Bauman (5 goals last season) and Ma all scored on the day where San Pedro defeated Banning of Wilmington, 3-0 in the season finale that netted the Pirates their eighth straight Marine League championship.
Bauman has a game-winning goal in her resume... a 25-yard free kick in the final two minutes that produced San Pedro a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Beverly Hills last season.
"I knew that it was extremely crucial for me to put the goal in and that my entire team was depending on me," Bauman recalls of that 'golden goal' moment. "I just took a deep breath and told myself that I could do it. When the ball was in the air it was as if my heart stopped and time slowed down. Once the ball hit the net and passed the goalie I was overcome with excitement."

Soccer in San Pedro has always been a family affair in Ma's case.
"My favorite moment of my first year at Pedro was playing my first varsity soccer game in 2012 with my sister Analisa," says Ma, who is the fourth in her family in recent years to play varsity soccer at San Pedro High, joining her sisters Dominique, Jessica and Analisa, who were all former All-Marine League selection.

In fact, Gabriella's first two career goals came in a 5-1 win over Banning last season in which her sister Analisa also scored.
Miller, already with 133 saves and six shutouts this season, a mind-boggling stat to say the least, was the first sophomore in the history of the program to be named as a team captain. "I feel very honored to be titled as a captain when I'm only a sophomore," says Miller, who boasts a 4.0 GPA, posting 86 saves and 8 shutouts last season. "I enjoy being able to lead our team on."

All five have been able to lead San Pedro girls soccer as one thus far, and if all goes well, a ninth straight Marine League championship is certainly within reach.