Alex Peterman | Special to The Post
DELRAY BEACH — The American Heritage-Delray girls soccer program punched its ticket to the 4A state championship with Friday’s 3-1 victory over McKeel Academy.
All that’s left now is to see if the third time’s the charm.
A brace by Isabella Larriu sandwiched around Vanderbilt commit Nyela Calnek’s score propelled the Stallions (14-1-1) to a big first-half lead.
The visiting Wildcats (16-5-1) worked their way back into the contest with some attacking quality in the early stages of the second half, culminating in a successful penalty kick by Ava King.
But after a spell of success from McKeel, the hosts regained momentum and dictated much of the pace in the final quarter, holding off the visitors’ counterattack and nearly notching a fourth goal — had it not been for a tremendous effort by the Wildcats’ keeper.
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Here are three takeaways from Friday’s state semifinal action.
Early prowess stakes Stallions to commanding first-half lead
The Stallions galloped to a quick lead on Friday night, scoring three first-half goals.
Larriu’s first-half brace proved to be the pivotal performance that Heritage needed, and the Stallions didn’t look back.
Her first score came off of eighth-grader Alexa Strickler’s run into the attacking half, with the budding center-back feeding her striker in prime position — her second was a simple, powerful strike into the lower left corner.
In between, it was Calnek’s composure when faced one-on-one with the goalkeeper that served her well, as the senior deftly put it over the keeper to increase the hosts’ lead.
“Obviously, as we can see, the longer you keep a team alive or in the game, the harder it gets later on,” said Heritage head coach Julian Slotty. “That’s why our plan was to push the pedal from the first minute on like we did in the regional final where we scored four goals in the first half.”
From there, it was cruise control — mostly. The Wildcats fought back and rallied around a penalty kick in the second half, but after their second penalty was saved, the Stallions were able to regain some of their first-half momentum.
“You want to come off strong and show them there is nothing to take off this field,” Slotty said. “Just show them who’s the home team. In the first 20 minutes, we were saying we press every single ball. We want to show them that we’re the better team and make their night miserable.”
McKeel Academy redefining program’s success story
It’s been 14 years since the Wildcats’ girls soccer program won its first district title. That year, they lost 9-0 in their very first regional match.
They’ve come a long way since then.
“Here we are, 14 years later, and we win the district championship again, but this time when we go to the first round of regionals, we’re the team winning 9-0,” head coach Jacob Sweeney said. “It’s been enormous progress over the years.
In the seasons since, the program has won eight district titles, has tallied multiple regional appearances, and last week marked the third time the program has been to the regional final.
It’s also the first time the Wildcats’ girls soccer squad has been to the final four.
“As a program, we’ve been growing a lot,” Sweeney said. “Stages. Steps. By degrees. This is the first time in the final four, and I’m proud of them. Hopefully, as we progress throughout the years, the final four becomes something we’re more familiar with.”
While Sweeney has lofty long-term goals, the immediate future of the program looks just as bright. Despite a number of seniors graduating, many talented players are returning to serve as the Wildcats’ core next year, including a Division I keeper and Amiyah Lemmard.
“I’m very comfortable with the group returning,” Sweeney said.
Stallions hope third time’s the charm in coveted trip to DeLand
Friday’s win helped the Stallions punch their third ticket in three years to the state championship game, a matchup that will come against Bishop Moore (Orlando, 19-2-3).
Heritage, however, is hoping this year will be different after losing in the postseason finale the last two years in a row — first to Lakeland Christian in 2021 and then to the very same Bishop Moore last year.
The program has already achieved a storied history, but this year’s edition of the Stallions wants to put an exclamation point on an already-dominant season.
It’s a young team, with just three seniors, but that hasn’t stopped Heritage from developing an impressive team chemistry.
Slotty plans on spending much of the weekend ahead studying film he has available on Bishop Moore, but in order to emerge victorious in the championship contest, Heritage’s coach believes that the Stallions simply need to play their game.
“Our game plan is just to play our game,” he said, saying that from what he’s heard, the team focused on the opposition’s strengths. “I want to have our girls come out and know that they’re capable of winning the game by just focusing on themselves because we have great players, too.”
“I’m convinced that if all of our 16, 17, 18 players, whoever steps on that field, is bridging their ‘A’ game Wednesday, we’re going to drive home with the trophy,” he said.
