Heritage’s Marcial, University School’s Estremedoyro are Broward Girls’ Soccer Coaches of the Year
Winning girls’ soccer state championships has long been the standard at American Heritage.
It’s why no matter the difficulty or the pressure, the Patriots always seem to find a way to come away with the gold.
This season, Heritage prevailed once again after another penalty-kicks thriller in the state final to repeat as state champions in Class 5A.
Meanwhile, with one of the youngest and most talented squads in the state, NSU University School hopes to achieve that kind of consistency in the near future.
Although University School didn’t achieve the same result, its resiliency in returning to the state final four showed it might just be a matter of time before the Sharks can celebrate a title of their own.
For that reason, American Heritage coach Cindy Marcial and University School coach Diego Estremedoyro are The Miami
Herald’s Broward County girls’ soccer Coaches of the Year for the second consecutive season.
Marcial led the Patriots to their 13th state championship overall and their seventh during her tenure as coach at the school. Heritage’s overall state championship total is now tied with Orange Park St. John’s Country Day for second all-time behind Fort Lauderdale Saint Thomas Aquinas’ 15 titles.
And the Patriots also repeated the manner in which they won the state championship as Herald
American Heritage’s Cindy Marcial and University School’s Diego Estremedoyro
7A-5A Co-Player of the Year Jillian Miliffe once again made key saves in goal in penalty kicks to secure a state championship.
Estremedoyro was hoping this was the season his Sharks squad would break through coming off a state runner-up finish last season.
But injuries to several key players down the stretch ended up derailing University’s march to a title with a 2-1 state semifinal loss to Merritt Island Edgewood.
“At one point we were playing with three or four girls who didn’t usually play much,” Estremedoyro said. “But we didn’t quit even when we went down 2-0. After the injury, we started pressing high and we just ran out of time.”
Still, Estremedoyro’s squad showed no quit, and marched through the playoffs despite being short-handed and came up with shutout victories in all three of their regional playoff games.
With only three seniors on their roster, the Sharks figure to have another great chance to bring home their first title next season.