Brightwell sets AHSAA career scoring record with six goals in St. James win

St. James’ Katie Brightwell set the AHSAA state record for career goals with six in the win over ACA on Tuesday. She surpassed Jordan RIchmond of Holy Spirit with her 233rd goal. (Staff Photo)

By TIM GAYLE

There’s now a new name atop the Alabama High School Athletic Association record book.

After starting the season ranked sixth among high school soccer players in career goals, St. James’ senior Katie Brightwell steadily moved up the charts, finally passing Holy Spirit’s Jordan Richmond on Tuesday in a fitting performance on Senior Night at Carlisle Field.

Brightwell scored six goals in a 10-0 win over Alabama Christian Academy that earned the Trojans the area championship. 

“I think it’s really just an honor,” Brightwell said. “Growing up, I always wanted my name to be known, just something that I wanted as a kid from the sport. The older I’ve gotten, the more I’ve realized that things like this, big accomplishments, are even better than I can imagine because I have a great group of girls surrounding me and supporting me. I wanted to hug every single one of them when I did it because I wouldn’t be here without them. I love each and every one of them so much.” 

Not only did she hug as many teammates as she could find after setting the record in the first half, she leaped into the arms of her father, head coach Charlie Brightwell. 

“We don’t talk about it much,” Charlie Brightwell said, “because I didn’t want to add pressure to it. We didn’t even talk about it during the game. She knew she was close but she didn’t know, I don’t think, exactly where she was. I knew she’d get here, whether it was today or (later in the regular season).

“I couldn’t be more proud of where she is. Just to watch her grow as a seventh grader, then in a Covid year where we didn’t get to do much, then her ninth grade year and she’s been on fire from that point forward.”

Brightwell scored 58 goals last season to bring her career total to 188 and it was during the 2023 season that the idea of becoming the all-time leader in career goals started to become a topic. Once she hit 200 goals early this season, she had just five players to catch. Last week, her four goals allowed her to pass Montgomery Academy’s Tara Katz (225 in 2019) for the most ever in the River Region. That left only Richmond, who finished her career at Holy Spirit in 2016 with 232 goals.

“I’ve been somewhat keeping up with it, off and on,” Katie Brightwell said. “Every once in a while, someone would ask me, ‘How many goals do you have?’ I just think the whole team came to play today. We had a good start, obviously getting a goal in the first 20 seconds with Natalie (Barton) scoring. To start off that good just kept the momentum going and I think that helped me.”

After Barton’s goal, Brightwell added a couple of goals and the Trojans were off and running. KK Corley and Molly Phillips added goals before Brightwell scored her third goal, then had a fourth goal roll into the net after it went off the hands of ACA goalkeeper Marcy Gregory with 9:28 remaining in the half and the Trojans leading 7-0. Mary Grace Hixon scored 82 seconds later, setting the stage for Brightwell’s history-making shot. 

With a pair of nice moves to get into the open, she rolled one into the net with 4:45 remaining to give her the record.  

“I knew when I tied it,” she said. “I had known before the game I needed five to be number one. Once I hit four, I said, ‘one more, one more.’ That last one is hard. It’s hard to get that last one when you’re trying to get it.”

Brightwell added a sixth goal to end the game on the mercy rule, taking a ball up the left side of the field, driving across to the right to find open space, then kicking the ball back toward the left into the net with 18:29 remaining. 

Moments later, she took her place in line as one of the seniors honored before the start of the boys’ game. 

“Ultimately, it makes the game a little more special, celebrating Senior Night with some of these kids I’ve coached since they were 6,” Charlie Brightwell said. “Celebrating another area championship, celebrating another run at the playoffs, which is our goal each and every year. (The AHSAA record) has a special meaning in my heart. It’ll sink in, probably, after I go home and we’ll actually get to discuss it now because it won’t be taboo.”

Hope McCain recorded three assists along with two by Mary Grace Hixon and one each by KK Corley, Natalie Barton, Amolika Mishra and Katie Irving.

Brightwell said it is fitting she set the record in front of the home crowd on Senior Night. 

“I think that is truly God’s plan, how he gave me this night to celebrate all the things in one,” she said. “God gave me the gift to play soccer and He lets me celebrate with a great group of girls.”

Katie Brightwell now stands alone at the top of the AHSAA career goals list, but her father said it is an accomplishment that everyone at the school can enjoy.

“It means a lot,” he said. “This is my 16th season now and building this program from where we were, we were not on a good run. Even the early teams that weren’t loaded with club kids, they set the foundation and they helped build this. They played into a culture of hard work, effort, drive, desire, all things you can control even when your feet don’t work.

“Yes, this is an individual goal, but it’s a bigger team and a bigger program goal when it’s all said and done. This puts St. James on the map long term because this is a record that will stand. Whether it gets broken or not, it’ll be up there, something that all these kids can look back on and say I was a part of that.”

St. James (11-1-1) returns to Carlisle Field on Friday to play Trinity, then will host the first round of the 1A-3A state playoffs on April 30.