St. Thomas Aquinas ends longest title drought in girls’ soccer, wins 16th crown

After winning five state titles in a seven-year span from 2011 to 2017 and a state-record 16 over 27 years starting in 1990, nine years without getting one probably seemed like a lifetime for the St. Thomas Aquinas girls’ soccer program.

That drought came to end on Wednesday morning when a single goal midway through the first half turned out to be the difference as the Raiders hung on to edge Niceville 1-0 in a Class 6A state championship game at Spec Martin Stadium.

It marked the program’s state-leading 16th championship.

When somebody found an inhaler on the ground that one of the St. Thomas girls lost in the wild post-game celebration, they handed it to head coach Bryan Hantak.

“Thanks, I think I could use this right now,” he quipped.

Indeed, Hantak and the rest of the St. Thomas coaching staff along with the solid contingent of STA fans that made the four-hour trip north from Fort Lauderdale were probably holding their collective breath down the stretch.

Niceville, playing in only its second-ever state title game (finishing runner up in 2016), turned up the pressure in the final 10 minutes, pushing hard in an effort to find the equalizing goal.

Then came the 6:45 mark and the “hearts-in-throats” moment for the Raiders.

After playing great defense all throughout the second half and not allowing the Eagles (19-2-1) any real golden scoring chances, the Raiders backline finally broke down and allowed forward Taylor Kerle to break free down the middle creating a one-on-one with goalkeeper Aimee Colson.

Colson had no time to think about it. She made the decision to charge right out at Kerle and force her shot. Colson stuck out her right leg and managed to get a piece of the ball deflecting it off to the right before the ball was cleared.

“I’m not going to lie, my heart was dropping when I saw her break loose,” Colson said. “I just tried to let my instincts take over. My defenders always tell me that if somebody gets behind them, you have to charge out there and force the issue. I was going to put my body on the line if I had to. I knew it was going to be a goal if I didn’t charge out there and fortunately I managed to get a piece of the ball with my right knee.”

“Aimee has come huge for us several times this year,” Hantak said. “I gave her a big hug afterwards and told her ‘you saved us’ which is exactly what she did.”

The Aquinas goal came just before the first half water break and came on a perfectly executed set piece off a corner kick opportunity.

Camila Velez Giraldo took the kick, but she did not send it towards the net. She one-touched to teammate Bianca Raskin who then one-touched it right back to her. Just a freshman, Velez Giraldo moved to her left to create a little space and then let a left-footed shot fly toward the goal.

Niceville keeper Eden Shaw leaped as high as she could and got a piece of the ball with her fingers but not enough to keep it from going in the net.

“I don’t even know what happened to be honest,” said Velez Giraldo, who was later hoisted up on her teammates’ shoulders in the postgame victory celebration. “Bianca sent it to me and you don’t really have much time to think about it. Your job at that point is to just try and create a little space, get your foot on the ball and do the best you can to put it on goal. Then it went in and I couldn’t believe it. I can’t even explain what a feeling this is. To score the only goal in a championship game as a freshman, it’s insane.”

Raskin said they work on this particular play all the time in practice.

“We work on that constantly,” said Raskin, a senior captain and James Madison commit. “It’s designed to take out the defender and create space. Usually it’s the other way around, I’m the one inbounding and she’s the one receiving but either way, we got the goal and that’s what counted.”

Aquinas made its first final four appearance since that last state title in 2017 just two years ago in 2024. The program (by its lofty standards) had been stumbling along for six seasons losing in the regional round. A state semifinal loss in ’24 was followed by a heartbreaking 4-3 loss a year to ago to St. Johns Bartram Trail in the championship game.

“For sure it seems like it’s been forever around here and amazing for this program to get back to the top again,” Raskin said. “We had been building for this each of the last two years. I’m not trying to be selfish but this was my last chance to win it and really wanted it as badly as anybody. It’s also important for the younger girls to see what we did as seniors and lay the groundwork for the future.”

Hantak took over the program following that 2024 final four appearance and recalled his players committing themselves to this season following last year’s loss in the championship game.

“They said it when we were huddled up right after that game,” Hantak said. “They set their goal right then and there that they would get back here and get this thing right and darned if they didn’t go out and do just that. Just a great job of committing themselves to a goal and following through with it.”

This story was originally published February 25, 2026 at 2:24 PM.