Palmer Trinity girls’ soccer comes up painfully short of winning first state title
It couldn’t have been any closer.
After two halves of scoreless regulation play, two rounds of scoreless overtime sessions and two rounds of PK’s, Palmer Trinity came up a goal short against West Palm Beach Kings Academy, 0-0 (5-4 PK) and finished as the Class 2A girls soccer state runners-up.
“We came out strong like we have in our other games, but the difference is we ran into a heck of a goaltender,” Palmer coach Effie Dieke said.
“The keeper was big for them in the first half and obviously big for them in the PK shootout. Defensively, we had a good game. It was zeroes all around. We just couldn’t connect like we have connected.”
After the first round of PK’s ended 3-3, the second session went to sudden death and King’s Academy (23-1) claimed the state title when senior midfielder Sofia Cuento scored the deciding goal.
“In the beginning of the game we were getting chances. I thought our momentum was building up, and we were going to put one in the back of the net,” said Palmer senior striker Scarlett Baur, who is committed to Northeastern University.
“As the half ended, I kind of realized the game was stretching on, and it was getting harder and harder to finish in the second half.”
Arianna Adessi, Carolina Egea Guimaraes and Lila Algarin scored for Palmer in the first PK session and Sofia Camacho scored the lone PK in the sudden-death session.
“We were just trying to lock them down at midfield,” said Algarin, who is committed to Albany. “We were trying to get some through-balls and get one in the box. I think we did the best we could. Our teams are kind of similar so it was a good fight.”
It was the second state runner-up finish in Palmer history. The Falcons finished as state runners-up in 2012.
“I am extremely proud of our team,” Baur said. “I’ve been on the team for seven years, so even winning the regional final was real emotional. Every step since that, I was just beaming with proudness. When we got to overtime and got to penalties, yes it’s scary, but the fact we even got here is incredible.”
Palmer (18-3-1) advanced to the state title game after bouncing Jacksonville Providence School in the semifinals in an 8-0 mercy-rule semifinal on Tuesday.
“We have nine seniors in our lineup, and they are going to be missed,” Dieke said. “The game didn’t go the way we wanted it to go, but the girls can hold their heads high. They have accomplished a lot of things for this program, and I am extremely proud of every single one of them.”