Perry's Catalina Feliz defends against Sacred Heart's Mia Belitz. (Ren Foslin/Special to Stripes)

MARINE CORPS AIR STATION IWAKUNI, Japan – Youth was served Wednesday – and plenty of it – as Matthew C. Perry won its first Far East Division II girls soccer tournament title in eight years.

Freshman striker Priscilla Ramirez scored her 55th goal of the season with five minutes left, assisted by senior midfielder Sasha Malone, and the Samurai blanked International School of the Sacred Heart 1-0 Wednesday at Perry’s Samurai Field.

It was a Samurai team that is losing eight of its 15 players either to transfer or graduation, so for coach Daniel Burns and his charges, it was “now or never,” he said.

“We had to do it this year,” Burns said. “And we had the tools to do it.”

And it was mostly youngsters who got the job done. Ramirez is just a freshman, due to transfer. Sophomore Leilani Zuniga had 32 goals.

“She’s a special, special player,” Burns said of Ramirez, who got those goals despite being marked by each opponents’ best defenders.

“Even with all the attention on her, she finds a way to make magic happen,” Burns said. “And we’re sorely going to miss her.”

Perry's McKenzie Steele embraces fellow four-year Samurai teammate Sasha Malone seconds after ending their careers with a Far East Division II championshp banner. (Adelicia Ramirez/Special to Stripes)

Freshmen defenders Naiya Burford and Catalina Feliz and sophomore goalkeeper Brooklyn Hunter were each in their first year of soccer but came through with flying colors on a turf surface made slick by rain, Burns said: “The weather played a factor throughout the game.”

Feliz, in particular, had the tough assignment of marking the Symbas’ best offensive weapon Mia Belitz. But the Samurai kept the Symbas off the scoreboard as they did all others in the tournament, outscoring opponents 27-0 en route to finishing 27-2-2.

There were a few parallels to Perry’s victory Wednesday to its last title. The last time the Samurai won, they beat ISSH 2-0 on Samurai field, and the Pacific’s leading goal scorer Bobbi Hill got her 47th goal.