For Sarina Bolden, it was a magical moment when she scored the final penalty shot that allowed the Philippine Malditas national women’s football team to book a place in history with its first-ever stint in the World Cup.
The 25-year-old Bolden left all her frustrations behind and just focused on the ball, struck it with a lot of grit and lifted the Philippines to a 4-3 (1-all) beating of Chinese Taipei via penalty shootout.
“I hit it with conviction into the corner. That kinda got me through. When I took the PK, I was not focused on anything other than the ball and just kicking it. I’m just happy I scored,” said Bolden a day after their quarterfinal win in the 2022 Asian Football Confederation Women’s Asian Cup at the Shiv Chatrapati Sports Complex in Pune, India.
Bolden expressed her thoughts a day after their memorable win in a post-game Zoom huddle with Filipino scribe and in the presence of teammate and goalkeeper Olivia McDaniel.
Going into the penalty shootout, Bolden was getting exasperated after nine of her attempts in the first and second halves and in the first extra time all missed their marks.
But the heroics of McDaniel, who made goal before Bolden did and had two crucial saves, sort of lifted her spirits up.
And so did the words of team skipper Hali Long, who spoke to Bolden before she took her final shot. Long’s reminder was also something that got her going as she settled down afterwards.
“Hali, our team skipper, spoke to me and said, ‘Hey, you just need to pick a spot and commit to it.’ With all that in my head and the weight of the pressure of everything in the moment, and giving it a thought, and I just thought of hitting it with conviction,” added Bolden, a Filipino-American booter, who hails from Santa Clara, California.
Bolden described the situation that was going on with the team in the final moment of the game and how much her teammates have grown following their training camp in Irvine, California.
The situation involving the penalty shot was among many scenarios that the Malditas have been working on over the last four months
The 1-all score in regulation should have brought their energies down going into the shootout, but the players refused to be let down.
“When the goal (of Chinese Taipei) happened, our energies might have deflated a bit. We don’t like that in the finals. We don’t like that to bring us down, and let anything like that kill us. And I think it has been a driving force for the team,” said Bolden, who took a break from her stint with the Chifure AS Elfen Saitama in Japanese WE League.
The goals by Bolden and McDaniel during the shootout put the Philippines in a semifinal playoff with the South Korea on Thursday–another historic first for the Malditas.
Going into their match with South Korea, Bolden said the Malditas vowed to keep on pushing and never let their guards down.
“Even when it comes to the second half, we’re still gonna keep on pushing, even if a goal happened. We won’t allow it to kill our spirits,” said Bolden.