Lourdes Academy Dominates Rain-Soaked Semifinal, Advances to 5A State Championship vs. Ponte Vedra

Lourdes overcomes heavy rain to defeat Cypress Creek, 5-1, setting up state title clash against four-time champion Ponte Vedra

Lourdes Academy sophomore forward Veronica Aguilar brings the ball deep into Wesley Chapel Cypress Creek territory during a Class 5A girls soccer semifinal on Wednesday at Lake Myrtle Park in Auburndale. / Bill Kemp

AUBURNDALE – Lourdes Academy slipped and slid its way into the FHSAA Class 5A state championship game with 5-1 semifinal win over Cypress Creek on Tuesday at Lake Myrtle Sports Complex.

After almost 34 minutes of scoreless soccer, the skies opened up and began pouring buckets of rain down on the field, which is when the  Lourdes offense opened up and responded with two quick goals in a period of 1 minute, 5 seconds to take a 2-0 lead. 

“This is super huge. I am super excited and I know we can (win the state title),” Lourdes junior midfielder Nicole Lee said. “Obviously the external factors affected us, but I trusted my girls with me, and they pushed and we kept going. We played until the end of the game."

With the win, Lourdes (16-1-2) advances into the 5A state championship game to face Ponte Vedra  Saturday at 1 p.m. 

Ponte Vedra topped North Fort Myers 2-1 in an earlier semifinal. The state berth marks the third time in the past four seasons, Lourdes has reached the state title game. 

“We lost the past two times but we are hoping this is the one,” said Lourdes fourth-year head coach David Fique, who was part of two Lourdes state championship teams as an assistant coach during the past eight years. “In a way we were blessed with the rain. I think we capitalized in moments when we really needed it."

Antonella Monsalve opened up the scoring for Lourdes with 6:12 remaining in the first half. Moments later, junior defender Jessica Lee crossed a shot off the goalkeeper’s hands for a 2-0 lead which held until the half.

The rain stopped during halftime, but it started up even harder in the second half, and  Lourdes increased its lead to 3-0 with a goal from Veronica Aguilar and an assist from Lee. 

After Cypress Creek picked up its lone goal from Makenna Lawler to narrow the lead to 3-1, Lee added two more goals of her own down the stretch to push the lead to 5-1.

Four minutes later, as buckets upon buckets flooded the field and sidelines, the officials blew the whistle and ended the game early with 5:09 remaining on the clock.

Ponte Vedra 2, North Fort Myers 1

AUBURNDALE – Ponte Vedra will get a crack at a fifth state championship.

Ponte Vedra picked up goals from Lily Morse and Lulu Consunji to hold off North Fort Myers and grab 2-1 win in a Class 5A girls soccer state semifinal.

Ponte Vedra (16-3-2) will face Lourdes Academy in the  5A state championship game  Saturday at 1 p.m. The Sharks have won four state titles, all under head coach David Silverbert.

“They scored early but I think they were running out of gas. This is a tough, big and wide field,:” Silverberg said. “It’s hard to chase a game when you are behind and catch up because there is so much space and room. Our goal was just to go win every single game we can.”

North Fort Myers picked up its lone goal Hannah Busenbark in the first half to knot the game 1-1.