Alessandra Gonzalez and Victoria Lares from Fury’s U15 Girls Premier team help American Heritage win State Championship
Tampa - There was no panic, no fear.
For Plantation's American Heritage; a team that has rallied back from several deficits this season; it didn't matter that time was running down and they needed a score.
The Patriots continued pressing and finally, with 48 seconds left, forward Haleigh Stremanos capitalized.
Stremanos was in the right place to take a shot at an empty net, lifting Heritage to a 2-1 victory over St. Andrew's in a Class 3A state semifinal at Pepin Stadium.
Heritage, which last won a state title in 2005, will play Jacksonville Bolles today for the state championship. Bolles, the defending champion, advanced with a 4-0 victory over Trinity Catholic.
"That's the story of our season," Heritage coach Phil Zayas said. "In the last minutes, someone always comes up big. It's taught these girls to be patient."
The Patriots (25-2-2) were aggressive from the start, attacking the net and taking shot after shot. But Scots goalkeeper Catalina Perez; an eighth-grader; kept St. Andrew's in the game, despite the fact the Patriots outshot the Scots 14-1.
When St. Andrew's finally got an opportunity, it scored. Laura Weinberg, the Scots' (16-4-1) leading scorer, broke free and blasted the ball past Heritage keeper Mikaela Barboza in the 46th minute to put the Boca Raton school up 1-0.
In the 67th minute, Heritage's Jannel Johnson took a rebound shot and dribbled it past Perez, tying the game and setting up Stremanos' eventual winner.
"I didn't know what was going to happen afterwards, whether we'd go to overtime or not," Johnson said of her goal. "But we always seem to pull through. Most of the time."
Heritage wins Class 3A state title
By Christy Cabrera Chirinos | Staff Writer
1:55 PM EST, February 14, 2009
Tampa - The state championship once again belongs to American Heritage.
The Patriots, long regarded as one of Broward County's top girls' soccer programs, won their fifth state title on Saturday with a 2-1 victory over Jacksonville Bolles at Pepin Stadium.
Heritage, which has effectively used an aggressive attack throughout the tournament, relied on that strategy again against the Bulldogs.
And they capitalized when they had to. The first goal came on their first shot, when Amunique Scott took a pass from Jannel Johnson and fooled Bolles keeper Lizzie Williams in the 23rd minute.
Bolles tied it early in the first half after a Heritage foul gave the Bulldogs an indirect free kick, which Caroline Triglia blasted around the Heritage wall and past goalkeeper Mikaela Barboza.
But in the 72nd minute, the Patriots went up for good when Johnson again, put the ball in the right place. This time, it was a pass to Kleopatra Ruddock that the senior sent into the net.
"This means a lot," Ruddock said. "We've worked so hard and we had a misstep last year after we lost a lot of players. Not a lot of people believed in us. Now I can just say 'Look at my medal.'"
A BEAUTIFUL GOAL
Heritage scored early on a beautiful goal by sophomore Amunique Scott, who fired in a shot from about 20 yards out in the 23rd minute. Bolles knotted it 1-1 with a free kick from the top of the box by Caroline Triglia in the 61st minute. Zayas wasn't worried.
Johnson scored late in the semifinal and then set up the game winner by Haliegh Stremanos, who beat St. Andrew's with 48 seconds left Friday. ''We always believe we will win,'' Johnson said.
Why not? The Patriots beat Bolles 3-0 earlier this season, and went unbeaten when they were at full strength.
When the starters were there, it was almost impossible to score on Heritage, which gave up only five goals in the 25 victories, including the two goals scored in Tampa. Zayas was also confident because Heritage took such a tough path to get to the title game.
'I looked at their scores of some of [Bolles'] games and they had an easier time getting here,'' he said. ``I told the kids before the game that we really had to earn our opportunity to be here. We worked hard and we earned it. They earned it today.''
