Oviedo and Melbourne were extended past overtime to win girls state championships, each winning the title with a penalty kick shootout.
American Heritage Plantation, Trinity Catholic and St. Johns Country Day sealed their FHSAA state titles in regulation.
PKs All The Way For Lions
Oviedo completed an exciting postseason run with a pair of penalty shootout victories. The Lions advanced to the championship game with a 1-0 victory over East Lake (4-3 on PKs), and then took the Class 5-A title by defeating Miami Lourdes 1-0 on a 5-3 PK shootout.
“It’s a fabulous way to win and a heartbreaking way to lose,” said Oviedo coach Scott Waisanen, who lost a state title in PKs in 2008 and won one in 2011. “It’s becoming all too familiar.
Mariah Mattingly had the game-winner on the fifth and final kick in the opening round of the shootout. Oviedo spent a quarter hour of every practice since January preparing for shootouts.
Oviedo finished the season with a 16-6-3 mark, while Lourdes, which allowed only one shot in 100 minutes of play, finished 20-3.
Melbourne Rallies
Down a player, down a goal and facing a determined opponent as well as a stiff wind, the Melbourne Bulldogs looked defeat in the face, and said “not this time.”
The Bulldogs got a goal in the 70th minute of the second half to draw even at 1-1. The game remained tied through overtime and Melbourne made four straight penalty kicks in the deciding shootout, while the George Jenkins Eagles missed twice.
The 4-2 shootout edge gave Melbourne the FHSAA 4-A girls state title and an unbeaten (20-0-1) season. George Jenkins, who reached the title game with a shootout win over Fleming Island in the semifinals, finished (24-4-1).
It was the Bulldogs fourth state title.
A penalty kick by Jenkins midfielder Lauren Greene gave the Eagles a 1-0 lead in the 50th minute of play. Olivia DeJong got the equalizer for Melbourne.
Sweet Revenge For Patriots
A year ago Ponte Vedra handed the American Heritage Plantation Patriots to a 2-1 loss in the FHSAA 3-A championship game. It was sealed by a 4-1 PK shootout.
Memories lingered for a year, and when the two met for the 2013 championship the Patriots hung a 3-0 loss on the Sharks to take the title and finish the season 26-2.
Seven minutes into the game Melanie Monteagudo scored her 33rd goal of the season for a 1-0 lead. Alyssa Robinson made it 2-0 before halftime with her 30th goal of the season.
Monteagudo added the third goal on a second-half penalty kick. Goalkeeper Jennifer Ocampo earned Heritage’s 23rd shutout of the season. The Patriots didn’t allow a goal in postseason play, outscoring opponents 36-0.
Ponte Verdra finished 24-3-1.
Celtics Overwhelm Raiders
Ocala Trinity Catholic, behind a three-goal outburst from senior Tabitha Tindell, won the Class 2-A title with a 4-1 win over Gulliver Prep. It was Trinity Catholic’s first girls state title.
Gulliver (21-1-4) had not lost since last year’s regional final.
Tindell, a Florida Gulf Coast University signee, finished the season with 52 goals, and had her fourth hat-trick in postseason play.
Back -To-Back State Titles
The St. Johns Country Day Spartans captured their fifth state Class 1-A championship with a 3-1 win over Fort Myers Evangelical Christian. It was the first time the Spartans had ever won back-to-back state titles.
Senior midfielder Mallory Bane, who is headed to Rollins, got St. Johns (24-1) on the scoreboard just before halftime with the game’s first goal.
She set up the second goal when she was taken down in the penalty box. Senior Ellen Crist, who is going to FIU this fall, made it 2-0 with a PK.
With about 10 minutes left to play, junior Megan Rogers finished the third goal for the final 3-0 score.
Evangelical junior Haley Pigott scored the Sentinels’ only goal, her 75th of the season. The Sentinels finished 26-2.