Miami Edison’s Emile, Lourdes’ Fique are Miami-Dade’s girls soccer Coaches of the Year
Both Miami Edison girls soccer coach Wilnord Emile and Lourdes’ David Fique saw their respective teams’ seasons end in the regional finals.
But for each, the 2023-24 season had different meanings.
For Fique and the Bobcats, it was about maintaining dominance as one of the state’s best.
And for Emile’s Red Raiders, it was a long-awaited breakthrough season that meant much more than just soccer success.
For their efforts, both Emile and Fique are the Miami Herald’s Girls Soccer Coaches of the Year for Miami-Dade County.
Fique repeats as the Dade Coach of the Year winner for Classes 7A-5A. Although his team was unable to return to state this season after falling to St. Thomas Aquinas in the Class 6A regional final, the Bobcats won another district title and secured the top seed and the furthest finish of any team in the 7A-5A classifications.
Emile, a soccer coach at Edison who has coached both the boys and girls programs for the past 22 years is the winner for Classes 4A-2A.
Emile oversaw one of the more remarkable turnarounds by any South Florida programs in recent memory after he led the Red Raiders to a 16-1 season and a berth in the Class 3A regional finals.
Edison won its first GMAC championship and followed that by winning the school’s second ever district championship. The Red Raiders proceeded to win their first two regional playoff games ever before falling to NSU University School.
But the season’s success is much more noteworthy due to the challenges that Edison overcame. Despite lack of financial resources and with nine of their players with coaches and teammates after immigrating from Haiti, Edison had their best season ever. The establishment of a club team at Little Haiti Soccer Park gave Edison’s players a chance to shine.
“It means everything,” Emile said earlier this season. “Sometimes these kids, 16, 17 years old, are playing well, but they’re still on the run. Some of them can’t even go to their house. They walk down the street anything can happen.”
This story was originally published March 31, 2024 at 7:00 AM.
