CHONBURI, Thailand — Filipinas goalkeeper Olivia McDaniel guessed right when she jumped left to intercept Vietnam’s sixth try in a nerve-wracking penalty shootout with no less than the 33rd Southeast Asian Games women’s football gold medal at stake.

That perfect anticipation is now etched in the annals of the Philippine women’s football team lore as a golden moment that would echo in the years to come.

History was written when the Filipinas gave the country its first-ever mint in the sport — men’s and women’s — in the biennial meet on Wednesday night.

The Filipino fans inside the Chonburi Daikin Stadium erupted in euphoria as McDaniel deflected the shot of Tran Thi Thu to seal Filipinas’ date with glory for a 6-5 win in the penalty shootout after a scoreless result in regulation over the dethroned Vietnamese.

“Honestly, I didn’t want to do it again. But I knew we all had a part to play, and we knew that at the end of the day, the job needed to be done. And so, we just rallied behind each other and we knew there was nothing else but the gold,” said McDaniel, who went through a second penalty shootout after a 1-1 (4-2) escape in host Thailand in the semifinals.

“So, I think that’s pretty much our mindset going through the entire game.”

After failing to stop Vietnam’s first five shooters from scoring, McDaniel saved her best for last as the Pinay booters ascended as queens of the SEA Games queens.

“Yeah, I mean, it was a really hard-fought game. Some of us have played five 90-minute matches plus two extra times and PKs. So, there were definitely heavy legs but every single team we played against, they were always on the ground,” McDaniel said.

“None of us sat down, none of us were tired, none of us were cramping. We had that mentality and that mindset to go forward and to keep going. And so, I think that’s really what brought us to this gold medal and brought us to the end. It’s that mentality of not stopping and not quitting.”

Jackie Sawicki set up McDaniel’s heroics by slotting in the sixth and a go-ahead goal after sending Vietnam keeper Tran Thi Kim the wrong way.

“You know, the way I practiced my PK yesterday (Tuesday), the girls’ kind of practiced it in a way I wouldn’t normally take it and the girls looked at me and said, ‘Are you going to take it like that?’ And I just, in my head, I said, I don’t know, but I just know I’m going to score. I’m going to do this for my team,” Sawicki said.

“So, I went in confident because my teammates were very confident and I, going to PKs, I just knew that we had it in the bag.”

It was also a bitter-sweet moment for the Filipinas after long-time keeper Inna Palacios rode into the sunset of her 18-year long service with the national team with a gold medal on her neck.

“A full circle moment for me. I think the SEA Games was when I started to dream and it just took me 18 years to get the gold. But I think for me it’s sad that I have to leave the team but I think I’ve done everything I can as a player. I dreamed a lot for the team and I’ve given so much for the team,” she said in an emotional farewell. 

The national women’s football is a speck no more in the midst of traditional regional giants.

From ruling the Asean Championship at the Rizal Memorial Stadium to a storybook debut at the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2023, the Filipinas have been writing and rewriting history.

And in the coastal province that’s a good two to three-hour drive from the Thai capital, the Filipinas decided it was time to bring their history-making act to the SEA Games, where their previous best finish of bronze came in 2021 and 1985.