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| FLORIDASCORES 1
February 24, 2018
12:01:00 PM
Entry #: 4243345
| FROM THE MIAMI HERALD
DELAND
At long last.
After knocking on the
door so many times with so
many talented teams that
made multiple trips to the
state final four and having
to settle for runner-up
medals twice, the Lourdes
girls’ soccer team cleared
that final hurdle on Friday
afternoon.
Taking on a two-time
defending state champion
that had not lost a game in
two years, was ranked No.
4 in the nation (Max Preps)
and had given up just one
goal all season long was a
tall task for the Bobcats.
But an Alexa Mascaro
goal with 25:08 left stood
up and gave Lourdes a 1-0
victory over Oviedo in the
Class 5A state championship
game at Spec Martin
Stadium on the campus of
Stetson University.
And with that, the school
took home its first state
championship in any major
sport and first state title of
any kind since girls’ crosscountry
in 2004. It also
marked the first state
championship in a largeschool
classification for a
Miami-Dade County team
since Hialeah-Miami Lakes
in 1993.
“We’ve been knocking
on the door for a long time,
and this has been a long
time coming,” fifth-year
Lourdes coach Ramiro
Vengoechea said. “This is a
group that has gotten to
the final four three of the
last four years and the
state final three of the last
five, so they were hungry
to find a way to get this
done and what a great
moment to finally see them
celebrating.”
The win also avenged
Lourdes’ two state championship
game losses to the
same team, a 3-1 defeat
two years ago and heartbreaking
penalty-kick
shootout loss in 2013.
In a game where Lourdes
(25-1) enjoyed very few
scoring chances, the Bobcats
took advantage of one
of their few opportunities
when midfielder Emma
Bryan fed a perfect pass to
Mascaro down the right
side.
In a rare defensive
breakdown for the Lions
(22-1), whose last loss
came to Orlando Bishop
Moore in the regular season
two years ago, a nonlosing
streak that had
reached 53 games, Mascaro
came free down the
right side, turned it back
inside and was met by
Oviedo keeper Samantha
Blanford. Mascaro right
footed it past Blanford into
the top left corner of the
net.
“Emma fed me a nice
through ball and saw I had
some open field and the
defender beat and just took
off,” Mascaro said. “I cut
in and waited to see if the
keeper would commit and
come out and knew I had a
clean shot at the back post
and let it go.
“I’m just so excited that I
was the one that was able
to make history for
Lourdes.”
Said Bryan: “I chested
the the ball and saw that I
had space over the top to
Alexa and knew she had
the legs to get there if I led
her enough. I knew when
she broke that she was
going to have a chance. I’m
a senior and we’ve worked
so hard for this moment.
We remembered how painful
it was two years ago
when we lost to them, so it
means the world to all of
us.”
With their precious onegoal
lead, it was then up to
the Bobcats defense, led by
goalkeeper Amanda Puig,
to spend the final 25 minutes
protecting the lead. It
wasn’t easy as Oviedo put
the full-court press on,
trying to create multiple
scoring chances.
The Lions’ last good
chance came with three
minutes left when a foul
occurred just barely outside
the penalty box, giving
Sarah Preston a free kick
from 15 yards away. The
ball disappeared into a pile
in front of the net before
trickling out, and Puig
made the easy save.
“The scariest 25 minutes
of my life, and it seemed
like 25 years,” said Puig
with a smile. “But I had
confidence in my teammates
that they would keep
the area cleared for me.
What a way for our seniors
to go out.
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