Titi Chichia has bounced back from a terrible knee injury to become Utah's single-season goals king.
File photo by Dave Argyle
Every moment
Titi Chichia had to wear a knee brace last season gave new meaning to the idea of feeling frustrated.
His knee needed protection while in the final stages of healing from a torn anterior cruciate ligament. The brace did what it was designed to do and it also made Chichia feel like a different soccer player. He felt limited by the cumbersome and heavy brace, unable to pivot and create shots in the same manner he did before his knee injury.
It left Chichia feeling hungry to prove what he could do when fully healthy when he stepped into a bigger role for
American Leadership Academy (Spanish Fork) in 2014.
Chichia scored 43 goals this season.
File photo by Dave Argyle
"I thought I had to step up my game," Chichia said. "Coming back from injury is always tough. But I got it done."
Chichia got it done, in every sense of the word. The 5-foot-9 junior forward set a state record for scoring, accumulating 43 goals this season for the Eagles. He scored 20 more goals than any other high school player in Utah this spring.
See the MaxPreps Utah boys soccer stat leaderboards The previous single-season scoring record of 40 goals – set by former Springville star Jon Bailey in 1990 – came tumbling down in American Leadership's regular season finale. Chichia poured in four goals in an 8-0 victory over Wendover to cross the threshold.
"We all play the season and hope to be on one of those lists in the record books," Chichia said. "I'm just honored to be in the record books."
His accomplishment provided the perfect exclamation point on a comeback season. Chichia tore his ACL a few months before the start of his sophomore season and missed all but the final five games in 2013. He got to return in time to help ALA claim the Class 2A boys soccer title, scoring four goals in those five games.
It offered a sneak peek to an even bigger scoring outburst that lay ahead this spring. By the time Rowland Hall eliminated ALA in the Class 2A quarterfinals, he finished with a jaw-dropping average of 2.7 goals per game.
The best part of Chichia's game is he always finds a way to get his teammates in the flow. As a team, the Eagles averaged 7.2 goals per contest. Chichia played on the wing with his club team, so he knew how to distribute the ball with as much precision as he found the net.
Chichia, right, is also drawing football interest.
File photo by Dave Argyle
"He can adapt to whoever is around him and play their style," ALA coach Steve Solen said. "He'll adapt his ways of playing to meet their style so more players are effective."
For Chichia, it just makes sense to move the ball around. He is a heavily marked man on the soccer field, drawing swarms of defenders looking to limit the damage he can do. Their efforts are usually futile because Chichia is anything but a ball hog.
"Every time I touch the ball I get two or three guys on me now," Chichia said. "Someone has to be open and it creates opportunities for them."
Chichia fell off the recruiting radar a little bit after missing so much time because of his injured knee. That's not the case any longer.
The junior is drawing interest from Utah Valley, Portland and other regional Division I schools. BYU, which fields a PDL level team, has invited him to attend its annual soccer camp.
Chichia may also have a future in football if he chooses that route. A few colleges are seriously looking at recruiting him as a placekicker. Utah and Weber State have both expressed interest in bringing him aboard to kick for their football teams.
John Coon covers Utah high school sports for MaxPreps. He can be reached at john_coon@hotmail.com or you can follow him on Twitter at @johncoonsports
