American Heritage-Delray wins second straight 1A girls lacrosse state title

The nation’s top two girls lacrosse teams met at the Class 1A state finals for a sixth consecutive year and the game did not disappoint as defending state champion and the nation’s top-ranked team, American Heritage-Delray, won its fourth state lacrosse championship with a 5-4 victory over rival Orlando Lake Highland Prep at the Paradise Coast Sports Complex in Naples on Saturday afternoon.

“They had to work hard for it,” American Heritage-Delray coach John McClain said by phone. “We had to fight complacency coming in because we beat them 14-5 in the regular season. They packed it in, so we couldn’t get inside, and some calls didn’t go our way. Ashley (Egbert) was incredible in goal. In the end, we just really finished strong.”

Senior Stallions’ attacker Chiara Scichilone and Lake Highland Prep junior attacker Ellie Greeno traded goals before American Heritage-Delray’s senior attacker Victoria Tomonto gave the Stallions a 2-1 halftime lead. Tomonto had five goals in a 17-3 semifinal win over Jacksonville Episcopal.

Lake Highland Prep’s Isabella Hughes tied the game at 2-2 in the third before the Stallions (22-1) scored twice in two minutes on goals by senior attacker Brooke Goldstein and Scichilone for a 4-2 advantage. The Highlanders trimmed it to 4-3 with 1:07 to go in the third on the first of two goals by Savannah Love. Junior Emma Hrzich stretched the Stallions’ lead to 5-3 with 10:44 left in the game before Love cut the deficit to 5-4 with 6:39 remaining.

American Heritage-Delray needed two key saves by sophomore Egbert on free possession shots in the closing minutes before forcing a turnover and running out the clock’s final 1:38 securing the win. Egbert finished with 10 saves.

“This is honesty indescribable,” said Egbert, who was pressed into duty this year following the graduation of Brianna Valdivieso (Fairfield University). “In my head, I just kept thinking about locking in on the ball. It was definitely so much fun and my first state game as a starter, so it was nerve-racking, but when that final buzzer hit, I dropped to the floor because I was so happy.”

The Stallions also captured titles in 2018 and 2021. Lake Highland Prep (20-4), which won state championships in 2019 and 2022, was making its sixth straight trip to the state final, while the Stallions reached their sixth consecutive trip to the final four and fourth straight final.

Stoneman Douglas falls in state semifinals to Tampa Plant

Stoneman Douglas got three goals from sophomore middie Chloe Resnick and two from senior attacker Taylor McGovern, but it wasn’t enough as the Eagles fell to Tampa Plant 16-5 in the Class 2A semifinals.

The Eagles (15-4) fell behind early 2-0 in the first period and had two goals disallowed for a dangerous follow-through and an in the crease foul that would have tied it. Resnick scored her first goal with 6:46 remaining in the first half to cut the Panthers lead to 3-1. Stoneman Douglas then had another goal negated for another dangerous follow-through call.

“I knew that team quite well and knew we were going to have our hands full,” said second-year Stoneman Douglas coach Scott Iardella. “We gave them a fight for a while, and it got away from us at the end.”

Tampa Plant (23-1), which went on to lose in the state championship 10-8 to Bartram Trail, upped the halftime lead to 5-1 and pulled away in the second half behind five goals from McKenzey Craig and four from Katie Fisher.

“Our draw control percentage was very low and against a team like Plant, we just couldn’t get possession,” Iardella added. “We hung in there and I am unbelievably proud.”