From 1990 to 2018, Salpointe Catholic’s girls soccer program won six state championships with six different head coaches. I don’t know if anyone keeps statistics on that sort of thing, but it must be a record.
The only constant has been that the Lancers’ girls soccer program has been stocked with such abundant talent that the coach — whoever he or she has been — didn’t have to start at the bottom.
In 1990, Salpointe won its first state championship, finishing a perfect 21-0. It was coached by Matt Panipinto, who then left his position to complete his engineering degree at Arizona.
Panipinto has since gone on to coach at FC Tucson and Pima College and has been a force in Tucson’s growth as a youth and high school soccer power. He is the son of Nina Panipinto, the late wife of Salpointe’s boys coach, Wolfgang Weber, considered by many to be the “Father of Tucson soccer” with nine state championships from 1985-2022.
Once Panipinto established the Lancers as one of Arizona’s elite girls soccer programs, success flowed. It wasn’t a mystery: Panipinto’s 1990 state champs included three of the leading girls soccer players in Tucson history: sophomores Christine Keeley and Kelly Walbert as well as junior Erin Fahey.
It was probably the most talented threesome in Tucson girls soccer history, and 1990 was just the beginning.
When Panipinto departed, Salpointe hired Julian Friend from the Carmelite organization, a religious order in the Catholic church.
In ‘91, Friend’s Lancers reached the state championship game, running Salpointe’s streak to 41-1-1. But it was in ‘92 that Salpointe’s girls soccer program peaked. Behind Keeley and Walbert, the Lancers went 16-0 and breezed to the state title with a 5-1 victory over Phoenix’s Xavier Prep.
It was the last soccer match at Salpointe for Keeley, Walbert and Friend, along with all-city players Erin Trujillo, who scored 15 goals, and midfielder Margo Davis. Talk about going out on top.
Keeley, who signed a scholarship to attend Washington, scored 30 goals. “With her accuracy,” said Friend, “she could score anytime.”
Keeley — now Christine Spencer — ultimately transferred to Arizona and became a team captain and all-conference second team choice. She later coached at Utah and Virginia Tech.
Walbert — now Kelly Cagle — scored 29 goals and had 20 assists. She accepted a scholarship to Duke and became a three-time All-American and the ACC’s 1995 player of the year. She became the head coach at Virginia Tech.
“Kelly is the complete player,” said Friend. “She has the type of talent and desire that allows her to carry a team on her back when necessary.”
Once the ‘92 season was in the books, it took Salpointe six years to win another state championship, 1998. Jill McCartney was the coach. She was followed a year later when first-year coach Alisha Kientzler coached the Lancers to the 1999 state title. Then came a significant down period; Salpointe won its next championship in 2017 under Becky Freeman, and a year later, in 2018, under Kelly Pierce.
Pierce has since established something of a soccer dynasty at Salpointe, winning four state championships in the last five seasons. But no Lancers team since Friend’s ‘92 state champs have been undefeated and untied.
