Hilton Head Prep girls soccer aiming for third straight title
By David Shelton
Senior Writer
Hilton Head – The casual high school soccer fan may have taken strong notice when the Hilton Head Prep girls soccer team opened the 2025 season with three straight losses against a highly competitive early schedule.
Veteran coach Risa McMillan, however, has felt her team is capable of winning a third consecutive SCISA Class AAA state championship. As of April 7, the Dolphins had won four of their last five games to even their record at 4-4. All is well.
McMillan, in her 12th season at Prep and her 23rd in coaching overall, feels she has a team with the right makeup to make another run at the title. While there are a lot of underclassmen playing key roles, the talent and playing experience is evident.
“This team has experience and great chemistry,” the coach said. “A lot of these girls have been playing together for many years, both at club level and at Prep. We have great cohesiveness. We should definitely contend for the state title again.”
Senior leadership is another strength of the 2025 team. Leading the way this spring are three veteran seniors – Courtney Campbell, Callah Dando and Layla Esquivel.
“They are very vocal and they help with the less-experienced players on the team,” McMillan said,
Dando, who has signed to play at Furman, is one of the program’s all-time leading scorers. She tallied seven goals with three assists in the first eight contests. Dando scored 34 goals with 29 assists last season and tallied 25 goals with 18 assists as a sophomore.
Campbell, a fourth-year varsity performer and an all-state volleyball and basketball player, scored six goals with six assists early on while Esquivel scored five goals with two assists.
Sophomore Brooke Heins starts in goal and is one of the best keepers in SCISA. Defenders in the back include freshman Alexa Pallazo, sophomore Ava Zeolli, freshman Marisa Moira and freshman Zoe Hays.
Joining Campbell in the midfield are juniors Riley Wilbert, Helen Kerkow and Sophia Schlieman. Kerkow and Wilbert have scored three goals early on.
Millie Pulliam, the teams fourth senior, comes off the bench. Other juniors on the roster include Madeline Schlieman, Ellie Lorenz, Mabry Sutton and Samantha Rehling.
Rounding out the team roster are freshmen Giovanna Franco, Katie Deweerd and Lysa Brattin.
