Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Raiders heading back to state final
FORT LAUDERDALE — Senior midfielder Julia Grosso had three goals to lead host St. Thomas Aquinas past St. Petersburg 8-0 in the Class 4A state semifinal on Friday night.
“My team wanted to work really hard because we got knocked out in this round last year,” said Grosso, referring to last year’s 1-0 loss to state champ Viera in the state semifinal. It was the lone loss of the season for the Raiders, who finished 22-1-1. “We were really motivated to come out strong and overcome the adversity we faced last year.”
After junior forward Chloe O’neill gave St. Thomas (21-1-2) a 1-0 lead in the 8th minute, Grosso doubled the lead with her first tally of the night. She closed out the game scoring in the 45 minute and then just before the second half water break as she finished her hat trick.
Senior forward Bella Dorosy, a Florida State signee had two goals and an assist, while junior midfielders Vanessa Lica and Morgan Armstrong. O’neill added two assists, while Armstrong, Haley Million and Sarah Davis each added assists. Senior goalkeeper Abby Pangallo picked up her 13th shutout of the season.
St. Thomas Aquinas (20-1-2) has outscored the opposition this season 143-6 and has won nine straight games since its lone loss of the season, against Monte Vista (Danville, Calif.) in the Tri Valley Classic tournament in December.
OXBRIDGE 1, HOLY NAMES 0: For a good 10 seconds, no one on the field knew what happened.
With Oxbridge and Tampa Holy Names scoreless in overtime and a berth in the Class 2A state championship on the line, the ThunderWolves launched a corner kick into a line of players in front of the net.
Landing perfectly in front of the goal and with the keeper out of position, Oxbridge junior Camryn Socha tapped the ball in just pass the goal line off a pass from Nicole Berman. The referees made no immediate call, leading to a frenzy of confusion in front of the goal as to whether Oxbridge had won.
But after conferring, the refs officially ruled it a goal, sending Oxbridge (14-1-2) to its first state championship in program history with a 1-0 overtime win. The ThunderWolves will face Montverde on Wednesday at 4 p.m. at DeLand’s Spec Martin Stadium.
“I didn’t know if it went in, but I can’t believe it,” Socha said. “I’m in shock. I’m speechless right now. I’m flooded with emotions.”
The goal, which was Socha’s second of the season.
“It feels great, I’m really proud of them,” Oxbridge coach Staci Wilson said. “They fought so hard.”
Friday’s contest was a defensive struggle throughout. Holy Names controlled time of possession and outshot the ThunderWolves for regulation, but were unable to put one in. Oxbridge star junior Allison Breed, who entered with 27 goals, had a couple of scoring opportunities, but was unable to connect.
In overtime, Oxbridge was finally able to put one on the wellorchestrated corner kick.
“We’ve worked on corner kicks and trying to drop it in the right place,” said Wilson. “We were really weak on set plays earlier in the season, but the girls spent a lot of time organizing it and setting up their runs and things happened.”