Solares Solano scored 38 goals to help Kubasaki win its second Far East D-I title in three years and Pacific-record ninth overall. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa – It was their only defeat in the entire 2024 season: A loss on penalty kicks in the Far East Division I tournament final against American School In Japan.
It also served as a motivator for Kubasaki’s girls soccer team throughout the 2025 season, senior striker Solares Solano said in an interview last week at the team’s postseason banquet.
“We did not take that loss lightly. It drove us this season,” Solano said.
And redeem themselves the Dragons did. Solano scored 38 goals, tops among DODEA-Pacific Division I players, in leading the Dragons to a 17-1-3 record this season, their second D-I title in three years and Pacific-record ninth overall.
“It just showed us that we did have room to grow,” Solano said of the 2024 finals defeat. “We pushed harder this season. We were determined to win,” she said.
The Dragons capped the campaign with their sixth win in six tries over island-rival Kadena, 2-0 in the D-I final May 21 at Camp Humphreys. Solano scored the second of two goals late in the first half.
For all her accomplishments over four seasons in which she tallied 109 goals in 63 matches and helped Kubasaki win three DODEA-Pacific tournaments, Solano has been named Stars and Stripes Pacific girls high school Athlete of the Year.
Solano edges out freshman Priscilla Ramirez, who led the entire Pacific with 55 goals in leading Matthew C. Perry to its second Far East Division II tournament title.
Her arrival coincided with a turnaround for Kubasaki girls soccer. The Dragons had been dominated by Kadena in the late 2010s.
But after the coronavirus pandemic subsided, Solano and the Dragons recaptured some of the glory they enjoyed in the 2000s. They won the 2022 All-Japan tournament title at Camp Zama, then won the D-I title the following season before the heartbreaking defeat against ASIJ.
“In those four years, we’d gone from losing every game with Kadena to expecting to win every game,” Dragons coach and former Panthers striker Chris Eastman said.
“It changed the mentality of all the players, going from hoping to win to expecting to win, and she’s led the way,” Eastman said of Solano.
She was the centerpiece of a threesome that possessed breakaway speed and left opposing defenses chasing them. Fellow senior Sakura Lopez had 19 goals and 11 assists and junior Amaya Schaffeld added 12 goals and seven helpers.
“It came down to our senior class and how talented they are and Solares was the key,” Eastman said.
Solano will take her game to the next level come next fall, when she will suit up for Glenville State University in West Virginia, a Division II school in the Mountain East Conference. The Pioneers went 7-9-2 overall and 4-9-2 in conference last season.
“I just hope that to the girls on the team, I was the role model of what they can become with dedication to the sport,” Solano said. “And just a friendly face on the field that they could look to for support in the hard times and the good.”
Age: 17
Place of birth: San Diego
Other sports: Swimming.
Favorite subject: Science.
Least favorite subject: Math.
Favorite athlete: Trinity Rodman.
Favorite forms of entertainment: Movies, R&B.
Favorite entertainer: The Weekend.
