Last Friday night was about as good as it gets for girls high school soccer in our community when St. Ed’s and Vero Beach High claimed district titles.
Mia Festagallo scored twice and assisted on two other goals as St. Ed’s defeated Holy Trinity Episcopal, 5-0, to capture the District 10-1A championship. Ally Eidemueller also tallied twice and Alex Marshall once for the victorious Pirates. Anabelle Greene pitched in with two assists and Carter Cooper had one. Keeper Kyrstin Malek had seven saves in the shutout.
St. Ed’s rolled past Pine School, 8-0, in a semifinal to set up a sixth consecutive match with Holy Trinity Episcopal for the district title. The Pirates finished on the short end of the previous five, two of those losses coming under third-year head coach Jaclyn Mohr. Finally winning a district championship was becoming close to an obsession with the veteran players on the team, and most likely with the coaching staff as well.
“We built our schedule to prepare us for this week,” Mohr said, referring to the district tournament. “The week before we had three really hard games – two against Fort Pierce Central, which we won, and a game against Benjamin that we added at the last minute. We lost the Benjamin game 1-0, but it was the best that I’ve seen the girls play. I felt that we were kind of reaching a peak, which was great going into the district tournament.”
What went unsaid was the expectation from day one in training camp that a third match with Holy Trinity would decide the district. The Pirates tossed two goose eggs (4-0 and 1-0) at their bitter rival during the regular season but knew that would mean nothing at title time.
“We knew both teams wanted it,” Mohr said. “The last time we played up there (in Melbourne) it was an intense game. It took 76 minutes before Mia Festagallo scored an unassisted goal for the 1-0 win. We worked really hard to ensure that we would come out with the win (for the championship).
“The district championship means a lot for the girls. It showed them that if you work hard and don’t give up, you can achieve your goal. Sometimes it takes a couple of failures before you experience success.
“But in all honesty this is not about saying that we are district champions. It is more about the girls realizing that they can work through nerves. In every other game this season it was great if we won and it was OK if we lost. But last Friday night was all about heart, emotion and grit – and why did you start playing his game as a kid.”
Oddly enough, it may have been that narrow setback that helped the most.
“When we lost to Benjamin it didn’t matter that we were no longer undefeated, or that we lost at all,” Mohr explained. “The girls enjoyed that game because they gave everything they had against a very good team. Playing to the best of their potential became the main focus. “Last year we didn’t take advantage of that and thought we didn’t need to push ourselves that little extra. This year I think that we have an entire different mentality.”
Anabelle Greene performed a dual role in this championship season as a player and co-captain, obviously contributing on the field – and with team morale as well. She also carried with her a family history that made this that much sweeter. Sisters Whitney, Lyndal and Aubrey preceded her on the St. Ed’s soccer field.
“It would have been my fourth year of losing to Holy Trinity in the finals and we were ready to finally take that back,” Greene told us. “I knew that we had a lot of motivation and that we were going to give it our all.”
St. Ed’s (11-1) and VBHS (13-2-1) will host regional quarterfinal games this Thursday. Vero defeated Jupiter, 1-0, for the District 10-5A title.
