St. Thomas Aquinas girls’ comeback falls short in state lacrosse semifinals

St. Thomas Aquinas was slowly piecing together the comeback story of the entire state lacrosse tournament.

Down 7-2 at halftime, the Raiders were forced to work their way back from a five-goal deficit, and nearly pulled it off, but Vero Beach denied St. Thomas of a game-tying goal in the final minute, as the Indians punched their ticket to the Class 2A state championship game.

“Their main girl, we kind of blocked off,” St. Thomas coach Kevin Gilligan said. “The other girl, we kind of blocked off. Instead of letting them stand there, catch and throw, we pinched them out so they were moving to get the ball. That forced them to drop the ball, then we’ve got the ball.

“Julia Backenstrass was phenomenal on back checking. She had numerous good checks and caused turnovers. We just couldn’t get the ball in the goal. That’s the name of the game.”

Vero got off to a hot start, going up 5-0 by the 10:10 mark in the first half, via goals from Kerrigan Gilmore, Alexa Vega, Johanna Kowalski, and Kiera Runske. It took Aquinas just over 17 minutes to get on the board, thanks to Sofia Mazariegos.

St. Thomas started chipping away at the five-goal deficit at the 23:50 mark in the second half, when Mia Layne scored. That was followed up by three goals in just over four minutes by Ella Bartlett and Mazariegos to get within one.

“When they came out and scored two or three goals, we knew where it was gonna happen,” Vero Beach coach Shannon Dean said. “It was going to be up to defense to win this game. Every time we came to the sideline and had our meetings, we just kept stressing, ‘Make it happen. Make it happen.’ Something is going to happen and feed that offense.”

St. Thomas and their eight seniors won’t be able to repeat as Class 2A state champions, which Gilligan described as “hard” for his outgoing class that made contributions across the board throughout the season.

“It’s definitely hard for the seniors,” Gilligan said. “It was hard. The other team just played a little bit better than us in the first half. We played better in the second half. They got more goals in the first half, and we didn’t. It’s hard. They were crying. You don’t win every time in life.”

Both teams had faced off once already on April 6, with the Indians winning 10-8 at home. Both sides knew what to expect on the big stage, assuming the two sides would meet again later on in the state tournament.

“It just felt like this was a heavyweight title fight,” Dean said. “We just came out, and we had them on their heels. We came out slow and methodical, we just kept chipping one in, chipping one in. It was a game of possession, and we were winning that game.

“Of course, going in and feeling good at halftime, and then they came out and were on fire. We couldn’t get our offense going, but our defense saved us.”

For Vero Beach, the Indians will aim for their first title since 2015, and seventh overall as a program in the FHSAA. They’ll face the winner of Vero Beach and Tampa Steinbrenner Saturday night. St. Thomas’ season closes with a 14-4 record.