Lourdes’ Fique, True North’s Fernandes are top girls’ soccer coaches
For Lourdes’ girls’ soccer team, just playing for their ailing teammate,
Katy Puig, was a victory this season.
Under the direction of coach David Fique, the Bobcats did more than just that, advancing once again to the Class 6A state championship match, their third in a row.
While playing in state finals or even the final four isn’t anything new for Lourdes, it is for True North.
The Titans, however, could become regulars in the coming years as a young squad broke through to their first appearance in a state semifinal in Class 2A under the tutelage of coach Hugo Fernandes.
For their leadership this season, Fique and Fernandes are the Miami Herald’s girls’ soccer Coaches of the Year for 2022-23.
Unfortunately, Lourdes was unable to bring home the state championship it has sought since last winning it in 2020. But the Bobcats were resilient throughout a season that began with them still recovering from the shock of losing Puig, last year’s Miami Herald Class 7A-5A Player of the Year, who suffered severe injuries in a boating accident last September in the Florida Keys.
Lourdes dedicated its season to Puig and fellow
student Lucy Fernandez, who lost her life in the same accident.
“To be honest, as a coach I missed her too, but this week was all about the 25 girls that got us here and about making them feel comfortable and putting them in a position to succeed,” Fique said after the Bobcats’ 4-1 loss to Gulf Breeze last month in the state final. “They did it all season long, so there was no reason to think they couldn’t do it today. Sure, the pressure was there … they had that on their shoulders but they wanted to do it for each other in addition to Katy as well. It just didn’t happen.”
For Fernandes and True North, a program in only its fourth season and first with a senior class, the
Titans went 14-4 before losing to perennial state juggernaut Orange Park St. Johns Country Day in the state semifinals.
True North, however, knocked off playoff regular South Florida HEAT in the regional final to advance to its first state semi and returns most of its core group for what it hopes will be the first of many trips to the state tournament.
“It’s been a great season,” Fernandes said after the regional final win. “We started a little shaky in the beginning but they’ve shown they can handle any situation.”