Westminster Academy outlasts Mater Lakes for first boys’ state water polo championship
After years of dominance by the same handful of teams, it was time for new blood to rule the state in boys’ water polo.
But who would it be?
Westminster Academy had been close to this stage before on multiple occasions, but never had moved past the state quarterfinals.
Mater Lakes was playing in the state final for the first time in program history.
The top two ranked teams in the state made it a memorable championship clash on Saturday afternoon at Belen Jesuit.
Thanks to some resilient defensive play late, five goals from senior Matthew Troche, and a big save at the buzzer by goalie David Maxson, Westminster Academy held off Mater Lakes 10-9 to secure its first state championship.
“It’s amazing. We knew we’d be a high-contesting team from the start. But from the way this team put it together, it’s just amazing,” Troche said. “We put our faith in God and kept pushing and pushing until the final buzzer. If you keep going, anything is possible.
“The whole school was cheering us on and we knew we had to do it for them. We finally broke through.”
For years, the Lions (24-2) had been one of Broward County’s top programs. But they had not been able to overcome powerhouse Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas.
That changed on Friday night when junior Dane Fox scored in overtime to clinch Westminster’s 11-10 semifinal win over Aquinas and push Westminster to its first final.
In Saturday’s final, Fox scored a pair of goals to help the Lions lead for the majority of the match albeit by no more than two goals.
Mater Lakes (24-3), a program which has made great strides in recent years with a strong core of players based out of Hialeah, didn’t get past the gauntlet of Miami-Dade contenders including Gulliver, Belen, Ransom Everglades and Columbus, until this season.
The Lions entered the match ranked No. 2 in the state behind Mater Lakes.
“It was a tough season, but we accomplished a lot. It was the two best teams in the state so anyone could win. We lost by one, but hey, credit to (Westminster) and we keep pushing forward,” Mater Lakes coach Nelson Dominguez said. “We battled back and we were right there. We only lose two players so we have a lot to work with to get back here next season.
“We feel like we didn’t lose. We only learned and we keep moving forward.”
The Bears tied the game five times until Troche and Sebastian Garcia scored consecutive goals in the fourth quarter to put the Lions ahead 10-8.
Amaury Alonso, who led Mater Lakes with four goals, scored with 2:10 remaining to pull the Bears within one. But Westminster held off any more scoring chances beyond that point with Maxson stonewalling a shot as time expired.
“We knew on paper we had one of the strongest teams, but we were pretty even with the top seven teams in the state so anybody could win,” Westminster Academy coach Daniel Cercols said. “We were consistent especially considering we had some new kids. We were on offense and we kept trying to do too much, but in the end, I’m so happy for the school.”
Westminster Academy already had a strong core of players entering the season. But that roster got stronger with the addition of players like Troche, who was ranked among the top 40 players in his age group last year and transferred in from Cooper City High.
Troche gelled perfectly with Fox and others such as Christopher Bennett, who had all played club with him in recent years.
“Matthew is an excellent player and a great kid outside of water polo. We all hang out together and now having him on this team is such a benefit,” Fox said. “As a teammate and friend, to win with him is awesome.
“We trained every day as hard as we could and had some ups and downs. We lost some games because of simple mistakes, but when it came down to it we put our hearts into it and now we have a state championship.”
