Bartram Trail girls stun Aquinas in OT; Mitchell boys blank Mandarin

The Bears and Mustangs capture FHSAA Class 6A soccer state championships

Bartram Trail players mob Ali Fletcher and celebrate winning the FHSAA Class 6A girls state soccer championship on Fletcher's header with 19 seconds remaining in a second overtime session on Saturday at Lake Myrtle Sports Complex. / Bill Kemp

AUBURNDALE, Fla. – This one will be talked about for years to come.

Jacksonville St. Johns Bartram Trail senior midfielder Ali Fletcher headed in the winning goal off a corner kick with 19 seconds left in the second overtime session to give the Bears a stunning 4-3 win over St. Thomas Aquinas in the FHSAA 6A girls soccer state championship game on Saturday at Lake Myrtle Sports Complex. 

“I just saw the ball and I just hit the crap out of it,”Fletcher said. “I am very proud of this team. I am very excited to get this win.”

St. Thomas was holding a 3-2 lead with 11:27 remaining in the game when Bartram sophomore forward Bella Abinsay knotted the game 3-3 with a goal. No one scored again until Fletcher delivered the double-overtime blow.

“It was the Grace of God right there (at the end),” Bartram Trail coach Jen Rodriguez said.”We were praying for this. The fight the girls had was unbelievable and to go down to the last seconds, 19 seconds, I couldn’t be more proud of our team.”

From the outset, the scoring came in bunches. Bartram Trail (18-1-4) took a 1-0 lead on a goal by senior defender Haylee Martin with 18:44 remaining in the first half. But before celebrating-fans sat back in their seats, St. Thomas took the momentum right back 35 seconds later with a tying goal by Sophie Barnes with 18:09 left on the clock.

“After they scored, it motivated me more to score,” Barnes said. “I saw the ball right there by my feet and I just decided to take the shot and it went in.”

St. Thomas took its first lead of the game, 2-1, on a hard shot in front of the net by junior Bianca Raskin with 6:48 left in the first half. Claudia Timmer Rodriquez picked up the assist.

But Bartram Trail returned the favor 58 seconds later on a tying goal by senior striker Brooke Gosse, knotting the game 2-2.

“We’ve told our girls all year long that if we get scored upon, then the next five minutes is the most dangerous,” St. Thomas coach Bryan Hantak.”It worked both ways, but our girls clicked on and knew, hey, we gotta get it back. We couldn’t let them get on top of us and stay on top of us.”

Mitchell edges Mandarin for boys 6A soccer state title

AUBURNDALE, Fla. – Just one goal, that’s all it took.

Junior Asher Bode scored an early first-period goal to propell New Port Richey MItchell to a 1-0 win a Class 6A boys soccer state championship game win over Jacksonville Mandarin on Saturday at Lake Myrtle Sports Complex.

Mitchell (22-2-2) also edged Mandarin (19 -1-2)  in shots, 11-9, but only Bode’s goal found its way into the net. Bode had only scored four goals all season but connected on the most-important shot of the season.