Dobles goal, assist leads American Heritage
PLANTATION — Senior Taylor Dobles had a goal and assist to lift American Heritage to a 3-1 win over visiting North Fort Myers in the Class 3A girls regional soccer final on Tuesday night.
The victory sends the Patriots (18-1-1) to their eighth consecutive final four where they will host the winner of the Largo/Merritt Island game in the state semifinals on Friday at 7 p.m.
The victory was special for Dobles who missed most of last season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in her knee.
“Honestly, it’s crazy,” said Dobles, who signed with LSU last week. “It is not just me coming back from a knee injury, but it is also my senior year and [possibly] my last game playing on the Heritage field. Knowing that could have been my last game of the season, that was my main momentum coming into this game.”
American Heritage took a 1-0 lead in the 11th minute on a great individual run by Dobles. The senior forward received a pass from Alexa Garcia about 40 yards away from goal and weaved past two defenders and struck a left-footed shot past Red Knights goalkeeper Haley Weaver to the far post for her 12th goal of the season.
The Patriots wasted little time in doubling their lead in the second half — 32 seconds to be exact when Olivia Roth redirected a cross by Dobles for a 2-0 lead.
North Fort Myers (20-3), which saw its 15-game winning streak come to an end, cut the lead to, 2-1, when Emilee Hauser headed home a corner kick by Anna Carter in the 46th minute. It was Hauser’s 45th goal of the season.
American Heritage iced the game in the 76th minute when Gabby Scarlette took a shot that Weaver mishandled, and the ball touched off the post and into the goal for the 3-1 lead.
After opening the season with a 2-1 loss to Montverde and a 2-2 tie with district rival Pembroke Pines Charter, American Heritage (18-1-1) has won 18 straight contests. They have outscored the opposition, 98-8 and have only allowed three goals in their past 10 games.
The Patriots are second in the state with 10 state titles. American Heritage last won a state championship in 2016 when it defeated Ponte Vedra. That marked a run of four consecutive state titles. Patriots coach Cindy Marcial said her team is on a high note following a 4-0 win over Pembroke Pines Charter in the regional semifinals.
“We talked about it at halftime,” Marcial said. “Our energy was a little low, sometimes when you have a big win in the regional semis you can get a little bit complacent. As coaches, we told them what they had to do and walked away and let the seniors take over. This is huge. It’s exciting and I am happy.”