Gulliver Prep boys, Ransom Everglades girls advance to state water polo finals
The FHSAA State Water Polo finals are set.
The only teams left from South Florida will represent Miami-Dade.
The Ransom Everglades girls and Gulliver Prep boys each advanced to Saturday’s championship games at Boca Raton High.
Gulliver Prep qualified for the championship with a 16-5 victory over Boca Raton. Gulliver will play Olympia for the third time this season at 4 p.m. for the championship.
Gulliver’s only state title came in 2007.
“I’m very excited that we have advanced to the final because we have a nice young group of boys,” said Gulliver Prep coach Carroll Vaughan. “We started off a little shaky and our captain Rene Peralta did a good job keeping everyone together.”
Peralta led the Raiders (29-1) with five goals, six steals and five assists. Bruno Rebessi added four goals, seven steals and three assists
Since 2012 the St. Thomas Aquinas boys’ water polo team has played in the state final five times, winning once in 2013.
The Raiders, however, came up short on Friday, losing their semifinal to Olympia 15-14 in overtime
Touma Mark scored the winning goal 32 seconds into OT to advance Olympia into championship against Gulliver Prep.
Mack finished with five goals.
Tied at 14-14 as the clock wound down, Andrew Yurchak missed the potential winning goal wide left. He finished with four goals.
“We had lost to this team twice already,” said St. Thomas Aquinas coach Michael Goldenberg. “We came close, but we lost again.
“We had a good plan, but I hoped for a little better execution.”
The Ransom Everglades girls’ team proved why they have been one of the top water polo teams throughout the state.
Their one-sided 11-1 victory over Lake Nona advanced them to Saturday’s championship against Winter Park at 2 p.m.
Sara Mesa and Preston Edmunds each scored three goals to lead the Raiders (19-4).
The Raiders will be seeking their seventh state title since 2010.
“Today was the culmination on what we have done and what we are workings towards,” said Ransom Everglades coach Eric Lefebere. “The girls have been working and working and fighting for this.”
Lefebere said the key to the victory was Grace Waibel, the Raiders’ lone senior.
He said she was a lock down defender against Lake Nona’s top scorer in Jordan Agliano, holding to just one goal. Agliano entered the game with 177 goals and 51 assists.
The state water polo semifinals haven’t been kind to the South Broward girls’ team.
Friday’s match against Winter Park was a reminder the Bulldogs program has room to grow.
Leading by three goals early in the fourth quarter, South Broward was unable to maintain the momentum as Winter Park rallied for a 11-10 victory.
Jessica Gangle had seven goals, including game winner with 1:22 to play for the Wildcats (27-4)
“We gave up goals from four of five meters that we shouldn’t have given up,” said South Broward coach Mark Veszi. “We should have played better defense in the last quarter.
“We knew this game was going to be different after we lost to them 13-9 up in Orlando and it was. We just came up a little short in the end.”
This was the fourth trip to the state semis, all since 2015, for South Broward (14-6). They have yet to advance to the final.
Emma Leto led the Bulldogs with five goals, including a goal that gave her team a 8-5 lead with 6:43 left in the final quarter. Mia Leto added three goals.