Heritage’s Freeman, Gibbons’ Conard are 4A-1A Girls’ Soccer Players of the Year
American Heritage and Cardinal Gibbons were among the two most dominant girls’ soccer teams in the state this season.
Senior defender Zahira Freeman played a major role in making the Patriots such a force on their way to their fourth consecutive state championship.
And senior midfielder Mia Conard showed her versatility by leading the Chiefs to the state finals after going unbeaten for 22 consecutive games.
Freeman and Conard are the Miami Herald’s Girls’ Soccer Players of the Year for Classes 4A-1A in Broward County.
Freeman, who has signed to continue her career at Rollins College in Winter Park, continued a winning tradition not just at American Heritage, but within her own family as well.
Freeman became one of the top defensive standouts in the state just a couple of years after her sister, Nyema, had a similarly successful career at Heritage and moved on to the University of Miami.
“My family has always had a go-getter mindset, all or nothing, and just doing the best we can,” Zahira Freeman said.
Freeman’s defense helped American Heritage become one of the stingiest defensive teams in the country, allowing only five goals all season. The Patriots extended their unbeaten streak to 31 consecutive matches and won their 15th state title overall. American Heritage finished the season ranked No. 1 in the country by MaxPreps and could be looking at a second consecutive mythical national championship.
“It’s so crazy to think we won all four years. It took a lot of work and team effort,” Freeman said. “It’s not easy to win four times in a row. We weren’t clicking as much as we used to in the beginning, but we put a lot of effort into this, eating right, extra work on and off the field so it’s important to us.”
Conard and her teammates fell short of completing an unbeaten season after a 2-0 loss to Montverde Academy in the Class 3A state final.
But Conard scored 23 goals and recorded 10 assists as she developed into one of the most prolific players in the state over the past four seasons. It earned Conard the opportunity to continue her career in college at LSU.
“I’ve been working for the past 10 years for a chance like this., so I’m really excited for that opportunity,” Conard said.
Conard formed part of a core of players, which have brought Gibbons back into contention for a state title that it has been chasing for the past five years.
“It was fun going undefeated in almost every game, but it was sad to see it end because I made so many friendships,” Conard said. “We all helped each other to get to that point. We progressively got better and made it further each year. We had a desire to win.”
