Heartbreaking double-OT loss keeps Aquinas girls’ soccer from adding another state title

This one was hard to swallow, but St. Thomas Aquinas handled it with class.

St. Thomas came out on the short end of possibly one of the most thrilling finishes in FHSAA state finals soccer history.

St. Johns Bartram Trail senior midfielder Ali Fletcher headed in the winning goal off a corner kick with 19 seconds left in the second overtime session to give the Bears a stunning 4-3 win over St. Thomas in the 6A state championship game on Saturday at Lake Myrtle Sports Complex.

St. Thomas (19-2-3), which holds the state record with 15 girls soccer state titles, was forced to settle for the 6A state runner-up trophy. The Raiders haven’t captured a state championship since 2017 when they won the 4A crown.

“They burned us three times on set pieces,” St. Thomas coach Bryan Hantak said. “We had warned the girls about set pieces. We made three mistakes on set pieces and it cost us.

“It was a great game and Bartram is a great team. We were looking forward to playing them all year and now we will look forward to playing them again next year.”

St. Thomas was holding a 3-2 lead with 11:27 remaining in the game when Bartram sophomore forward Bella Abinsay knotted the game 3-3 with a goal. No one scored again until Fletcher delivered the double-overtime blow.

From the outset, the scoring came in bunches. Bartram Trail (18-1-4) took a 1-0 lead on a goal by senior defender Haylee Martin with 18:44 remaining in the first half. But before celebrating Bartram Trail fans sat back down, St. Thomas seized the momentum right back 35 seconds later with a tying goal by Sophie Barnes with 18:09 left on the clock.

“After they scored, it motivated me more to score,” Barnes said. “I saw the ball right there by my feet and I just decided to take the shot and it went in.”

St. Thomas took its first lead of the game, 2-1, on a hard shot in front of the net by junior Bianca Raskin with 6:48 left in the first half. Claudia Timmer Rodriquez picked up the assist.

“It was a great finish and an assist from Claudia,” Raskin said. “We were up on the attack and up in the box. I just slid it in. I think we played our butts off. They are really good competition and it was a really good game. I am proud of all the girls.”

But Bartram Trail returned the favor 58 seconds later on a tying goal by senior striker Brooke Gosse, knotting the game 2-2.

“We’ve told our girls all year long that if we get scored upon, then the next five minutes is the most dangerous,” Hantak said. ”It worked both ways, but our girls clicked on and knew, hey, we gotta get it back. We couldn’t let them get on top of us and stay on top of us.”

Before the half ended, St, Thomas regained a 3-2 lead on a goal by Rodriquez. Ironically, St. Thomas outshot Bartram Trail 14-5 in the game but they came up empty on 11 of those shots.

“It was the Grace of God right there (at the end),” Bartram Trail coach Jen Rodriguez said. ”We were praying for this. The fight the girls had was unbelievable and to go down to the last seconds, 19 seconds, I couldn’t be more proud of our team.”