First state title in reach for Gibbons

Bidwill delivers late goal to help send Chiefs to 2A final

FORT LAUDERDALE — Senior Amy Bidwill’s goal with 5:09 remaining Friday night sent Cardinal Gibbons to the Class 2A girls soccer state championship match.

Bidwill, who is headed to Wittenberg University, beat junior goalkeeper Ella Hileman to lift the Chiefs to a 1-0 victory over Tampa Academy of the Holy Names in a semifinal at Cardinal Gibbons.

Gibbons (18-1-4), looking for its first state title in program history, will play the winner of the Bolles-Trinity Prep match Wednesday for the 2A state championship.

“The ball came from the middle,” Bidwill said. “Maya Alicea took it down, I had to go wide, and she found the space and finished it right in the corner.

“Honestly, it doesn’t feel real. We worked so hard this entire season. We knew we couldn’t come out here on the last home game and lose. We knew that we had to play all 80 minutes and give it all we had.”

Alicea is a senior who is headed to USF. The Chiefs’ only loss this season came against Archbishop McCarthy — another state finalist. Broward County saw Gibbons, McCarthy, Cypress Bay and American Heritage all win in state semifinals on Friday night.

Gibbons has made it to the state final one time previously, but it lost in the championship match in 2009.

“I think Holy Names played a great game against us,” Gibbons coach Margo Flack said. “They really did. It was difficult for us to find the net.

“Some things just didn’t fall our way. I think we dominated the game.”

Academy of the Holy Names finishes 16-5-1. This was the Jaguars’ third appearance in the final four in the past four years.

“They are a good team,” Holy Names coach Kareem Escayg said of Gibbons. “They’ve got pace and they are physical. They play good soccer.

“I said from the beginning one goal was going to take it. Unfortunately for us, they got the goal.”