Patriots eyeing 13th state championship
Probably the most difficult obstacle that the American Heritage girls soccer team faced on Tuesday afternoon was a mechanical failure after its 4-1 Class 5A state semifinal win over Horizon (Winter Garden) at Spec Martin Stadium in DeLand.
Their bus had a flat tire which delayed their return back home to Plantation. The defending state champion Patriots (15-31), ranked No. 23 nationally by MaxPreps, plan to head back up for their state championship game on Friday at 4 p.m. against North Fort Myers.
“We didn’t even get to leave the field,” said American Heritage coach Cindy Marcial by phone. American Heritage will be bidding for its 13th state championship. “The bus had a flat at the field we were parked at.”
Even though they dominated play, the Patriots had nothing to show for it in the first half as Horizon was content to sit back, defend and look for the counter attack. American Heritage outshot the Hawks 8-0 in the first half and 17-1 for the game. They switched between two forwards and three forwards throughout the game.
“We knew they were going to bunker (play with nine people between midfield and defense),” Marcial said. “I watched a couple of their tapes, and I knew they were trying to play for penalty kicks. We told them to just turn and hit our shots and don’t dribble. Once we got our first goal, I knew we would score more. We were just unlucky in the first half.”
In the 48th minute, Lily Sargent-Burns dropped a perfect crossing pass down in front of the left side of the net. After playing a brilliant first half in which she recorded some pretty impressive saves, Horizon keeper Ellis Henderson couldn’t get to the ball this time as Samantha Villaverde knocked it home.
That created another opportunity just two minutes after the second half water break when Sargent-Burns made another beautiful pass down low that Jordyn Norwood found and knocked it to make it 2-0.
Horizon (Winter Garden), in just its third year as a program, scored on its lone shot of the game in the 71st minute on a goal by Domine off a corner kick. The Patriots answered twice before the end of the game on goals by Norwood and Aleman.
Boca Raton cruises in second half of 7A state semifinal: Boca Raton (18-2-2) broke open a tight game as they scored three times in the second half to advance to their second straight Class 7A state championship game with a 4-1 victory over Newsome (Lithia) on Thursday afternoon.
Boca Raton fell 3-0 in the state finals last year to Bartram Trail, and they will face Creekside (St. John’s) on Saturday at 4 p.m. Creekside stunned Stoneman Douglas with two goals in the final 10 minutes of the game to pull out a 2-1 win in the other semifinal.
“At halftime, we felt our offense hadn’t really performed at the level that we are used to,” said Boca Raton coach Rachael Grimes, who has reached the title game four times in her coaching career. “We were getting rid of the ball way too quickly and the second half we settled dEown and created a lot of scoring opportunities.
“We are excited to have another crack on Saturday for the championship,” Grimes added. “This team definitely has a lot more experience coming into this game, then they did last year. We are going to give it our best shot.”
The Bobcats withstood five corner kicks or free kicks in the first 20 minutes of the match and senior goalkeeper Kelly White came up big on two breakaways to keep the game scoreless.
Adrianna Gonzalez found Laine Willis alone on a breakaway to open the scoring in the 25th minute as the Bobcats took a 1-0 halftime lead.
St. Thomas Aquinas, Stoneman Douglas fall in semifinals:
Between the two programs, St. Thomas Aquinas (15) and Stoneman Douglas have won a combined 20 girls state soccer championships. The last time for St. Thomas came in 2017, while the Eagles haven’t won a title since 2007 after winning five straight from 2003-07.
Both programs will have to wait another year as St. Thomas Aquinas was easily handled 5-1 by Ponte Vedra, the Raiders’ worst loss in state series history, while Stoneman Douglas was stunned with two goals in the final 10 minutes by Creekside in a 2-1 setback.
St. Thomas Aquinas (13-5-2) was blitzed in the first half as they trailed 4-0 at the half to Ponte Vedra (21-1-1) in the Class 6A state semifinals.
The Raiders gave up a penalty kick in just the third minute as Sharks forward Jenny Dearie converted a penalty kick after being fouled by a defender in the penalty area. St. Thomas Aquinas junior goalkeeper Camyrn McEwen moved to the right and Dearie slotted the ball to the left for a 1-0 lead.
In the 11th minute of the game, the nation’s top-ranked girls team doubled the lead to 2-0 when Alex Pateul received a cross from Natalie Brooks and slid the ball under McEwen.
“We were shellshocked for sure,” said St. Thomas Aquinas coach Kim Faulkner. “We had a tough call on the PK (penalty kick), and they secured that second goal. We settled in and had some great opportunities but could never get into a productive rhythm.
“Hats off to a great opponent,” she added. “We haven’t seen that kind of team speed in transition of any of our opponents. Their goalkeeper had some sound saves and they shut us down. We will be back. We are a young team, and we will grieve today but work tomorrow to be better. We are proud of our season.”
St. Thomas Aquinas finally got on the scoresheet on a left-footed one-timer by Genesis Hernandez off a pass from sophomore forward Madison McKeon in the 58th minute.
Stoneman Douglas, meanwhile, came within 10 minutes of advancing to their first state championship game in 15 years, until the state’s top-ranked Class 7A team and nation’s No. 4-ranked Creekside (St. John’s) team stunned the Eagles 2-1 in the Class 7A girls semifinal game.
The Eagles (15-2-2) seized a 1-0 lead in the 23rd minute off a long punt by goalkeeper Ella Stevens that took one bounce over the Creekside defender and put Layla Segelnick in one-onone with Knights goalkeeper Hailey Smith.
Segelnick then slotted the ball under Smith for a 1-0 lead which stood until the final 10 minutes of the contest.
First Creekside’s Payton Dorsett launched a long free kick from midfield and the ball took one bounce as Stevens came out to make the save, Lily Paisant got there first and headed the ball over her head into the net to knot the score at 1-1 in the 71st minute.
Then, in the 75th minute, Braelyn McMillan found Alanna Maki on a cross all alone in front against Stevens and found the bottom left corner of the net for the win.
“The girls fought very hard all the way until the end, and I am very proud of them,” said Eagles coach Laura Rountree. “It was heartbreaking to give up two goals in the last nine minutes. Creekside capitalized on some late chances to win it.”