St. Thomas Aquinas’ Finch and Douglas’ McGovern are Broward Lacrosse Players of the Year

Two of the most prolific offensive players in Florida propelled their teams to the Class 2A final four this year and are now the Miami Herald’s Broward County Lacrosse Players of the Year.

James Finch is the Boys’ Lacrosse Player of the Year after topping 70 goals to lead St. Thomas Aquinas to yet another final four and Taylor McGovern is the Girls’ Lacrosse Player of the Year after guiding Stoneman Douglas to its first final four.

McGovern, a senior, scored 70 goals and led the state with 96 assists, and finished her career by leading the Eagles on a historic run through the playoffs. Stoneman Douglas has been a fixture in the Florida High School Athletic Association postseason for more than a decade, but had only once been past even the region semifinals before ripping off five straight wins late in the year to reach the 2A semifinals.

Although the Eagles stumbled against Tampa Plant in the 2A semis, McGovern contributed on all five of Stoneman Douglas’ goals, scoring twice and assisting on the other three.

“Going to state semifinals was our team’s biggest accomplishment,” said McGovern, who played attack and midfield, and is now off to play at Division II Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee.

McGovern’s 70 goals were second on the team, as were her 37 ground balls.

Finch followed up a historic freshman season with an even better sophomore year and took the Raiders to the final four for the third straight year. As a freshman, Finch became St. Thomas Aquinas’ first 50-goal scorer since 2015 and he jumped up to 71 goals this year, while scoring on more than 42 percent of his shots.

The sophomore attack piled up his 71 goals with 10 hat tricks — including eight- and seven-goal games in the regular season, and a hat trick in the Raiders’ loss to Lake Mary in the 2A semifinals — and also added 47 assists and 34 ground balls, the third most on the team.

As strong a start as his career is off to, Finch is still missing a state title after two close calls in his first two years. St. Thomas Aquinas last won a state championship in 2022, right before Finch started high school, and the Raiders should be right back in the mix again next year.

“I’m never satisfied from where I’m at,” Finch said. “My expectations are very high.”