St. Thomas Aquinas girls earns chance to add to state-record total of championships

St. Thomas Aquinas has a shot to pad the state record book.

St, Thomas shut out Lakewood Ranch 2-0 on Friday in an FHSAA Class 6A state semifinal at Lake Myrtle Sports Complex.

St. Thomas will square off against St. Johns Bartram Trail (17-1-14) in the 6A state championship game Saturday at 7 p.m. Bartram advanced after edging Land O’ Lakes Sunlake in an earlier semifinal 1-0.

“This is what we dream about and we started talking about winning a state title when I came on board last year,” St. Thomas coach Bryan Hantak said. “That was our one goal. The girls are outstanding.”

St. Thomas (19-1-3) holds the state record with 15 girls soccer state titles, though the Raiders haven’t captured a state championship since 2017 when they won the 4A crown.

“Lakewood Ranch played outstanding,” Hantak said. “We knew it would be a tough game and we knew they would fight. Their keeper came up huge and made great saves, They are a great team but we will take a 2-0 win.”

St.Thomas also out-shot Lakewood Ranch 16-4.

“This was our 15th or 16th shutout, and that goes to our defense and our goalkeeper. We just stepped into the passer and made sure they couldn’t play those through balls,” Hantak said.

After a scoreless first half, St. Thomas seized a 1-0 lead on a goal by sophomore Alexa Strickler with 38:15 left in the second half.Sophie Barnes dished out an assist on the score.

“At halftime our coach was talking about, ‘Let’s get the goal and all come together as a team.’ What he said really drove me. When I saw Sophie with the ball, I knew she was going to cross it in, so let me just get into the box.”

St. Thomas increased its lead to 2-0 on a goal by Madison McKeon off an assist by Bianca Raskin with 14:25 left in the game.

“We’ve just been waiting for this moment, every practice working,” McKeon said. “I’ve done that play with her about a million times (in practice) and it finally came to fruition. I couldn’t be happier.”