Girls’ soccer: Villaverde’s clutch kick sends Heritage to state
Often in soccer, the matchup is so even the outcome can come down to just one kick.
Sophomore forward Sami Villaverde has been delivering in such moments all season for the Plantation American Heritage girls’ soccer team.
After the Patriots drew a foul inside the 18-yard box late in the first half against Archbishop McCarthy, Villaverde was tabbed to take a penalty kick.
She took a few steps and fired the ball perfectly into the far corner for the lone score in a 1-0 Heritage victory over McCarthy on Tuesday night in the Region 4-5A final at the Mavericks home field.
“There were definitely a lot of nerves coming to your opponent’s home field like this and them having the advantage because of that,” said Villaverde, who scored her team-best 22nd goal of the season. “But I practiced my PKs at the end of every practice and I knew that if I walked up with confidence the ball would go right through every time, and that’s what I did.”
American Heritage (16-2-2) advanced to the Class 5A state semifinals for the first time since 2019 when it won the most recent of its 11 state championships all-time. The Patriots will host Wesley Chapel Cypress Creek on Friday at 7 p.m.
McCarthy (21-2), which beat Pembroke Pines Charter twice in penalty kick shootouts over the past two weeks, was shut out for the third time in its past four games.
“I don’t know if we were pressing too hard and not letting it flow like we were at the beginning of the
year,” said McCarthy coach Mike Sica, whose squad graduates 15 seniors. “Maybe we did that instead of just relaxing.”
Heritage was a slight underdog and played without longtime coach Cindy Marcial, who was serving a one-game suspension after being ejected from the Patriots’ regional semifinal win over Merritt Island last week.
Not much changed though for a young Patriots squad, which has two seniors, and saw both Dori Johnson and Nyema Freeman make clutch stops on the back row to keep McCarthy off the scoreboard.
Sophomore goalkeeper Jillian Miliffe recorded the shutout.
“Every game we played, we played with heart and that can carry you further,” Heritage assistant coach Braulio Garro said. “We didn’t change tonight and played 100 percent. It’s how you finish, and we’re peaking at the right time.”
Region 4-6A final — Lourdes 2, St. Thomas Aquinas 0:
Coco Aguilar isn’t one to often make brash predictions.
But she made one on Monday. Less than 24 hours before she took the field against St. Thomas Aquinas, Aguilar, a senior forward who had 48 career goals, messaged her coach David Fique with “I’m going to get to 50 tomorrow night.”
Darned if she didn’t go and do just that.
Aguilar came through in a big way on Tuesday night as she indeed did make it to 50, scoring twice in the final 17 minutes to give Lourdes Academy a hard-fought victory at Monsignor Pace High School.
Lourdes (17-1-2) moves on to the Class 6A state semifinal where the Bobcats, with No. 1 stateranked Ponte Vedra getting upset in the regional semifinals, will now be the top-ranked and No. 1 seeded team. They will host No. 4 seed Land O’
Lakes Sunlake on Friday at 7 p.m. at Columbus High School.
Aguilar scored on a header off an assist from Sienna Aviles with 17 minutes left in regulation for the first goal before adding the second — her 50th — with less than a minute to go on a one-on-one breakaway to wrap things up.
“This is just crazy because I know I messaged coach about 50 but didn’t really expect it to happen,” said Aguilar, who was soaked after being doused with cold water by her teammates. “I saw the perfect opportunity late in the game and didn’t waste it. This team is so special, my senior year, can’t lose, it’s all about redemption and this season it’s all for my friend Katy. We’ve got her name everywhere, on our wrists, on our jerseys, every time we start to get tired, we look at it and we know we’re playing for her.”
Aguilar was speaking about teammate Katerina
Puig, who was seriously injured last September in a boating accident that took the life of another Lourdes student and has had Puig hospitalized ever since.
She is in the midst of a long journey back and currently at Baptist Health Homestead Hospital Rehab Center.
Aguilar herself was involved in the accident, suffering minor injuries that caused her to miss the beginning of the season.
But none of that slowed her down.
“Coco is so resilient, her story is amazing,” Fique said. “When she came back after missing the beginning of season, she scored two goals right out of the gate. We get so much from her, her smile, her resilience. It’s so infectious for this team and this school. When she sent me that text message, somehow I just knew she would find a way to get those two goals.”
— BILL DALEY
Region 4-3A final — University School 3, Westminster Christian 1:
The Sharks (14-3-3) advanced to the state semifinals for the first time in school history as they continued their breakout season. Mia Herrera, Bianca Raskin and Giana Sanchez each had a goal. Taylor Smith had two assists and Sadie Zelnick had one. Avril Ramirez had nine saves. University will travel to North Palm Beach to face Benjamin on Friday at 7 in a Class 3A state semifinal.
Region 4-2A final — Miami True North 4, South Florida HEAT 2:
True North, which is in its fourth year as a school, saw another sport accomplish a first as the Titans clinched their first berth in the state semifinals.
The Titans (14-3) will travel to Orange Park to play powerhouse St. Johns Country Day, winners of a state-record 11 consecutive state titles, in the Class 2A state semifinal on Friday at 7 p.m.
“It’s been a great season,” True North coach Hugo Fernandez said.
“We started a little shaky in the beginning but they’ve shown they can handle any situation.”
After falling behind 1-0 in the first half, the Titans tied the match on the first of two goals by sophomore Sophia Vega. True North then blitzed South Florida HEAT after halftime with three goals in a span of less than 10 minutes to take control of the match.
Vega gave True North the lead in the first two minutes of the second half.
Sophomore Cassidy Fabian followed with back-to-back goals within three minutes of each other.