Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Archbishop McCarthy reaches mountaintop
DELAND — After coming up just short of a state championship the past two years, there was no way the Archbishop McCarthy Mavericks were going to let another opportunity get away.
“No matter what happened on the field,” senior co-captain Cassandra Lawson said, “we were going to come out winning.”
And that’s just what the Mavericks did Friday, beating Ponte Vedra 2-0 in the Class 5A girls soccer championship game and taking home the state title for the first title in program history.
“It’s just an incredible feeling,” Mavericks coach Mike Sica said. “We’ve had so many heartbreaks over the last couple of years and we’ve been chipping away and chipping away over the years.
“I can’t express how proud I am of our team. Our senior class, they deserve this. Our last few classes have been incredible and they’ve built us to where we are now.
“This group of seniors … this is really for them. They’re the heart and soul of the team.”
Archbishop McCarthy (22-1-2) scored on an owngoal six minutes into the first half, then made it a 2-0 game with 22:02 remaining on a counter attack that saw Eliana Ramirez take the ball down the right side and cross it to Liliana Katz, who found the open net.
“Literally, we’ve practiced that a thousand times — that exact scenario,” Sica said.
Archbishop McCarthy reached the state semifinals in 2018, losing 5-4 to Estero. Last season, the Mavericks reached the title game, only to lose 1-0 to Montverde Academy.
The players used those losses as motivation to get back to DeLand.
“We talked about it so much,” senior co-captain Kelly Hastings said. “We used this as our strength to bring us here. We practiced everything we made mistakes on last year and we used it to win.”
As the final whistle blew and players began to celebrate, Hastings was looking for someone to hug.
“The defense usually comes together and [this time] everyone was going their separate ways,” she laughed. “I was so happy. I was trying to see where anyone else was.”
As big a moment as Friday was for the seniors, it was also a big day for the Mavericks’ two keepers — sophomore Isabella Quintero and freshman Paloma Pena — and everyone else on the roster who worked so hard to bring the program its first state title.
“I think a big part of our team is that we trust each other and everybody steps up,” Lawson said. “From seniors to freshmen, everyone knows how valuable they are. And if they get thrown in [the game] in big moments, they can perform.
“If we can go on the field every day and prove to each other and ourselves that we want it more, and that if we try hard, we can do it. Nobody’s going to beat us. That showed today. … It was the best feeling ever.”