Raiders find themselves back on familiar ground

Team seeks 16th state title after winning first regional since 2017

FORT LAUDERDALE — St. Thomas Aquinas seniors Shay Miedema and Brooke Sanfilippo have a history together, dating to their days as Under-8 soccer players.

So with less than 30 seconds remaining in the first half, Sanfilippo streaked down the left side of the field and sent a centering pass to Miedema, who one-touched the shot past West Boca goalkeeper Gabriela Freitas for a 1-0 lead as the Raiders blanked the Bulls 2-0 in the Class 6A regional semifinal Friday night.

“Honestly, I can remember playing with Brooke since we were 8 years old in club, and that’s what we do,” said Miedema, who has scored six goals in a season abbreviated by COVID. “I saw her making the run and I knew I had to put it in the back of the next. That’s what we do.

“It was an amazing feeling to score right before halftime. I think we got them frazzled.”

St. Thomas Aquinas (7-1), winners of seven straight since a season-opening 2-1 loss to Boca Raton, padded the lead to 2-0 with 30 minutes remaining when sophomore Gabrielle Stewart scored her second goal of the season from 25 yards out with Miedema assisting. It marked the first time in four years that St. Thomas has advanced to the regional final.

It will travel to play Lourdes, a 5-0 winner over Doral on Tuesday.

“They have been working hard and I know it has been tough this season,” said St. Thomas Aquinas coach Carlos Giron. “We haven’t played that many games and now we are playing teams that have been playing 10, 11 games or more. It makes it a little different and we are just trying to find where we are supposed to be.”

West Boca’s best chance came in the 13th minute when senior forward Nikole Solis broke through the Raiders defense and curled a shot past an onrushing junior goalkeeper Alex Carpintero that was just wide of the mark from 25 yards out.

“We had a really good season,” said Bulls coach C.J. Weiss, whose team lost for the first time in 12 games. “We played a lot of possession and today we came up against a team that kept the ball well.

“I think we kind of got nervous and it got into our heads and we didn’t play our game as much.

“High school soccer goals can come from anywhere, and to be fair they got to areas where they hurt us.

They play on a big turf field, so they had all of their plays set. It was a little rough, but moving forward we’ll be fine.”

St. Thomas j unior Brianna Duncan was close on two free kicks in both halves. However, one was wide and the other was batted away by Freitas.

West Boca (14-3-1) last reached the regionals in 2019 when it fell 4-0 to Archbishop McCarthy in the Class 4A regional finals.

St. Thomas Aquinas, with 15 state titles, is looking to pad its lead over St. Johns Country Day (12). The Raiders last won a state championship in 2017. They failed to make it past the regional semifinal in 2018 and 2019 when they fell to Archbishop McCarthy each time and they lost to Lourdes Academy 4-3 on penalty kicks last year,

Giron said they are trying to make up for lost time with their formations and said that will come with more game experience.

“The more we continue to play, the better we will get,” Giron said. “I think if we can score a couple right off the bat, we can hold anybody.

“Our goal the past few years has just been to build the program back up. It is still a young team and they will be back next year. Our goal at this point is to try and get as much as we can out of the year. I think we have a good quality team that can make it to states, but we have to take it one game at a time.”

“COVID has affected everyone,” Miedema said. “We have dedicated our time this whole year. We put hours in and train forever, and it is not going to go to waste. The seniors haven’t been past this point, so we know this is our year and we want to win states this year.” Girls soccer regional semifinals Friday

7A Vero Beach 2, Dwyer 1(3-1PKs)

Stoneman Douglas 3, Boca Raton 2(4-3PKs) Cypress Bay 4, Gulf Coast 1

6A St. Thomas Aquinas 2, West Boca Raton 0 Lourdes Academy 5, Doral 0

5A Bayside 2, Suncoast 1

Archbishop McCarthy 2, Pembroke Pines Charter 1

4A

Cardinal Gibbons 3, American Heritage 2(OT)

3A American Heritage-Delray 4, Benjamin 1 Miami Country Day 1, Pine Crest 0(forfeit)

2A Westminster Academy 2, Berean Christian 0 Girls soccer regional finals

Tuesday

7A Vero Beach at Stoneman Douglas, 7p.m. Cypress Bay at Palmetto, 7

6A

St. Thomas Aquinas at Lourdes Academy, 7

5A

Bayside at Archbishop McCarthy, 7

4A

Cardinal Gibbons at Gulliver Prep, 7

3A

West Shore at American Heritage-Delray, 7

2A Westminster Academy at Divine Savior Academy, 7