[Sarina Bolden–pictured second from the right–who was born and raised in the Bay Area city of Milpitas, scored the winning penalty kick against Chinese Taipei on Jan. 30 during the quarter-finals of the 2022 AFC Women’s Asian Cup in Pune, India. The goal sent the Philippines to it’s first ever World Cup appearance. Courtesy AFC]

As Sarina Bolden lined up to take the penalty kick—one that would forever change Filipino sports history—her parents, Robert and Sherry, looked on anxiously from their Bay Area home, more than 8,000 miles away.

They could hardly watch.  

Robert, his stomach in knots, paced in front of the television set, debating whether or not to look while his 25-year-old daughter took the biggest shot of her life. “I was a mess,” he admitted.  

Sherry, though, remained focused. And saw the look on her daughter’s face.

“She’s always wanted to do something great,” she said. “By golly, she got it.”

From the limit of the penalty box, Sarina revved forward and struck hard, soaring the soccer ball beyond the rival goalkeepers reach and into the left corner of the net. With a single kick, Sarina—the Afro-Filipina soccer sensation from the Bay Area city of Milpitas—made history by sending the archipelago nation of the Philippines to its first ever FIFA World Cup of any gender.

“I feel like women are, a lot of the time, the first to do a lot of things. And nothing against my Filipino brothers, but it is just very special to be a woman, to be Filipino and African American, and to achieve this with my sisters. And we’ve been through a lot,” Sarina told the Latina Latino Latinx News podcast. “So to see all of that hard work pay off, it just makes it so much sweeter…It’s a good time to be a woman in sports right now, because we’re achieving so much. I hope we continue to keep achieving and setting that bar and raising it and breaking that ceiling.”

The Philippines women’s national football team—styled the Malditas—defeated Chinese Taipei on Jan. 30 during the quarter-finals of the 2022 AFC Women’s Asian Cup in Pune, India by a final score of 4-3 in penalty kicks, Sarina’s being the game winner.

“I think it still hasn’t hit me yet. Quite frankly, it’s kind of surreal still, that myself and my team, nation, The Philippines, are going to the World Cup,” said Sarina. “It’s kind of like a dream…It’s like, ‘Wow, like this is actually happening.’”

That dream—which will be realized next year as the Philippines take part in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand—has been a lifetime in the making. Showing a natural prowess for sports at a young age, Sarina dabbled in the usual youth activities of gymnastics, basketball and softball. But it wasn’t until the age of six when Sarina—with the guidance of her father who would spend hours upon hours with her at practices—took up soccer from the suggestion of a friend.

“That helps when you know the parents and they’re having fun,” said Sherry. “So it was more like that. It wasn’t like, ‘You’re going to be a professional soccer player.’ It wasn’t like that. It was just trying to figure out what our kids love to do.”

That love for soccer propelled Sarina to early success on the various club teams she played for in the south bay, eventually choosing to pursue soccer over softball in college at Loyola Marymount University.

“I just had this deep love for the sport that I couldn’t really explain. And I wanted to explore that love for the sport,” said Sarina. “That’s what ultimately made my decision for me and I decided to play soccer in college and then onto my professional career and my national team today.”

The team’s historic achievement is not only one of athletic perseverance, but also of diaspora. Of the 23 athletes on the national women’s team, only four were born in the Philippines. The presence of foreign-born players embarking on the athletic pilgrimage to their ancestral homelands and representing their national teams has become a soccer trend in recent years.

Motivated by the chance to potentially play in a World Cup and connecting more with her Filipino roots, Sarina was only 21 when she was named to the Philippines national women’s team in 2018. Coincidentally, that was the same age her maternal grandfather decided to migrate to the United States.

Romualdo Mendoza Calpo, originally from Alcala, Pangasinan in the Philippines, was 21 and in the navy when he decided to relocate his family to San Leandro, California. He made the journey with his wife and the three children, the youngest being his three-year-old daughter, Sherry.

Eventually, Sherry set roots in Milpitas, where Sarina and her younger brother were raised.

But achieving soccer history hasn’t come without costs. The grind of playing Division I collegiate soccer for four consecutive years took its physical toll. And the challenges women face in professional sports—especially equal pay in soccer—have been well documented. And with the COVID-19 pandemic suddenly bringing the world to a halt in 2020, Sarina found herself at a crossroad.

“This was probably the biggest obstacle I had ever faced in my career. I was basically off for like a year and a half and at that point, I was kind of reevaluating my life,” she said. “Like, is it time to switch career paths? Is it time to actually put my degree to use from college and make something outside of soccer for myself?”

But in that reprieve, Sarina found herself and a renewed love for the sport.

“I think ultimately it helped me grow as a soccer player,” she said. Before long, Sarina was playing for the Japanese women’s football club, Chifure AS Elfen Saitama. And eventually rejoined the Pinay squad.

Growing up in the Bay Area meant that Filipino culture was everywhere. But somehow, the feeling of not quite fitting in always lingered.

“I’ve definitely experienced that, growing up and having that sense of where do I belong. I’m a mixed kid…So where do I fit in all this,” she said. “But I think going back, making that decision and joining my national team…I didn’t really feel how I felt in the past. Like, ‘Oh, I don’t really fit in.’ I felt like that’s where I needed to be. And being a proud Filipino in the Philippines is an experience that I’ll take with me for the rest of my life.”