Caprice Chiuchiolo's competitiveness drives Gilbert Christian soccer team

Earlier this month, Gilbert Christian girls soccer coach Hector Orellana asked his star player, junior midfielder Caprice Chiuchiolo, a simple question.

“What’re you going to do if the team double-teams you?”

Orellana was trying to have Chiuchiolo look at the game like a puzzle. It’s no secret that Chiuchiolo can score at any given time — she recorded 30 goals and 24 assists last season as a sophomore as she helped lead Gilbert Christian on a run to the 3A state championship game. But that now makes her a focus of opposing defenses.

The mental unlocking is part of a long process for Orellana, who initially came across Chiuchiolo playing at a soccer tournament in 2016.

When Orellana saw Chiuchiolo play for the first time, the veteran soccer coach instantly knew there was something a little different about her than the other players on the field. Her tiny stature and athleticism made her stand out, but it wasn’t Chiuchiolo’s size or speed that got his attention.

It was her mind.

“You could tell there was some talent there,” Orellana said. “From what I saw, it was the ability to read the game at such a young age. Everybody tends to be a big cluster. I call it ‘bumblebee soccer,’ where it’s just a big swarm chasing the ball. To see her movements — there’s certain movements that soccer players tend to do. You saw that if she sticks with this, she’s going to be able to do something more.”

Orellana first got his start in soccer 25 years ago in Northern California. He interned for Major League Soccer when the league first started up, working with the San Jose Clash during its inaugural season.

After coaching at his former high school, Liberty Baptist, Orellana and his family decided to move to Arizona in 2002. He also made the decision to step away from coaching with young daughters to raise and the Southwest heat not being too desirable for the Bay Area transplant. For awhile, a five-year period, Orellana was just dad.

But then his oldest daughter, Daniella, wanted to start playing soccer. So Orellana went back to his roots and put on his coaching cap again. When Daniella was 9-years old, Orellana was offered a club team to coach, which is the same group of players he’s now coaching at the high school level after taking over from Jay Feely in 2020.

Daniella is now a senior midfielder, one of the co-captains alongside Chiuchiolo. The two are part of the core that make up the Gilbert Christian soccer team, which lost last year in the 3A title game to Queen Creek Benjamin Franklin 3-1.

Chiuchiolo’s impact goes beyond just goals scored and chances created. She’s setting an example for others. Her younger sister, Angie, is a freshman on the team. When asked to describe Chiuchiolo in a few words, her teammates, Orellana and freshman forward Mila Russo, both chose the same word: competitive.

And Russo knows a thing or two about competitiveness — she was the 2023 AIA Division IV state champion in cross country, beating her opponent by .01 seconds to win the title.

“She’s a really competitive player,” Russo said. “She brings a level of intensity to the team, definitely brings it up. Especially after her shots.”

Challenging herself in new ways

Since joining Gilbert Christian, Chiuchiolo has been one of the most prolific players in 3A and all of Arizona. Earlier last week, she scored her 50th career goal. She’s now halfway to her goal of 100.

Watching all those goals being scored has had an impact on Daniella. She used to like to sit back as a midfielder. That’s changed since playing with Chiuchiolo.

“She helped me to have confidence in taking the ball up the field,” Daniella said. “Usually, I just dish it off. But she’s helped me have confidence and be motivated to go to the goal. I love playing with her, and us attacking together as a unit. Her passion for soccer, her desire, it kind of rubs on me.”

Scoring 50 goals was a special moment for Chiuchiolo, who has been focusing on soccer since she has been 4-years old.

“I never find myself waking up not being grateful for being able to play the sport,” Chiuchiolo said. “I always wake up and I’m like, ‘This is another day that I’m given to be able to get better, grow my sport.’ I think it’s a really great opportunity that I’ve been given, so I just really want to able to take hold of all those opportunities and use them to the best of my ability.”

One of those opportunities given has been the chance to train with the Ecuadorian under-17 national team the past three years in the city of Guayaquil.

It was a chance for Chiuchiolo to prove that she does belong. Chiuchiolo wanted to see how she fared against international competition. She also got the chance to learn some family history as her grandma is from there.

“I was a little nervous at first,” Chiuchiolo said. “It was a new environment, something I wasn’t used to do, traveling that far. But I kept telling my parents, the main thing that I know I’ll be fine with is the soccer part. I knew I got selected for this, but now you have to perform. It’s not just one and done here. You have to perform and show.”

Now, Chiuchiolo is waiting to see if she will selected again for 2024. But there’s bit more riding on this selection. She’s expecting a call in the next month or so to know if she’ll be on the U-17 World Cup qualifying team.

It’s not just the soccer field where Chiuchiolo is making an impact. She’s also played on the varsity football team the last three seasons as a kicker.

It was a little awkward at first to get settled in with the team, but Chiuchiolo said the players quickly welcomed her. She just wanted to be treated like another one of the players, nothing special. While was she used sparingly this past year, Chiuchiolo has been excellent at kicking during her time on the field — she has nailed 37 of her 40 point-after-attempts.

'Inspiration to younger girls'

She’s been using football to help get better at kicking after watching some of her peers do the same on Instagram. And Chiuchiolo knows that just by suiting up in football pads, she’s making a difference that goes beyond the game itself.

“I wanted to send the message that you can do anything you want, you can do whatever you set your mind to,” Chiuchiolo said. “I didn’t want it to be, ‘Oh, only boys play football. I didn’t want it to be stereotypical.’ I wanted to prove you can do this too and maybe be an inspiration to younger girls.”

But her focus remains on soccer and getting her team to the top. The team was 3-0 at the end of last week as it gets ready for the schedule to ramp up. Chiuchiolo said the 3A title loss to Benjamin Franklin still haunts her. She thinks about certain moments in the game that could have gone differently.

It says a lot about her make up as an athlete. Orellana thinks she has what it takes to play beyond just high school.

From Orellana’s perspective, the Ecuadorian senior national team is a possibility.

“She can get to that level,” Orellana said. “I can definitely see it. The ability is there. The soccer intelligence. It’s not just about a pass, it’s a pass to a player’s foot that basically leads them to pressure or away from pressure. Once you start getting players to understand that type of level, it’s just a different ball game. You can tell that she’s understanding that and I can see her basically at that stage.”

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Caprice Chiuchiolo's competitiveness fuels Gilbert Christian soccer team