Runner-up no more: Lourdes soccer team clears final hurdle to state title

On a field that has proven to be nothing short of a house of horrors for the Lourdes Academy girls’ soccer team over the last five years wound up turning into a field of dreams late Saturday afternoon.

After making it to the state championship game four of the last five seasons, only to be turned away, the Bobcats and coach David Fique finally cleared that last hurdle.

With their rabid fan base all decked out in their powder blue colors in the stands, Lourdes dominated from the opening whistle to the final whistle and cruised to a 3-0 victory over Tallahassee Chiles in the Class 5A state championship game at Spec Martin Stadium.

It marked the third state title for the program and first since 2020 when they won twice in a three-year period, also winning in 2018.

“I can’t be more excited for this group of girls because they’ve sacrificed so much this season to get back up here and finally get this thing done,” Fique said. “They’ve been so resilient and found a way to bring a championship back to this program. When they were leaving the hotel to come to the game today, they said, ‘We’re coming back home with that trophy’ and darned if they didn’t go out there and do just that.”

Fique never tried to bring it up very often and always insisted that “we look forward not backwards around here” but it was the end of a personal journey for him as well. He took over the program right after Ramiro Vengoachea led Lourdes to that second state title in 2020 and continued to maintain the high level of success that had been left behind by both Vengoachea and Ray Walden before him.

Since then, it was all those trips to state, all those wins in the state semifinals but then all those losses to Venice (2021), Neptune Beach Fletcher (2022), Gulf Breeze (2023) and Ponte Vedra last year with a regional final loss to St. Thomas Aquinas in 2024 sprinkled in between.

When it was over and Fique finally had that first place medal around his neck, he admitted that yes, it had been weighing on him heavily.

“I’m not going to lie to you, absolutely it was something that was weighing heavy on me,” Fique said. “As a coach, you can’t help but think about that. On the way to the stadium today I texted my wife that you can’t help but to think about the past at times. But the bottom line is that the ones I really wanted this for today were all those girls over there celebrating right now. They’re the ones that made the most sacrifices.”

After controlling possession most of the first half but not being rewarded with any great scoring chances, the Bobcats got that elusive first goal just 23 seconds before halftime. It came compliments of the Lee twins, Nicole and Jessica who combined for the score. It came off a free kick and one that they hustled to get off, not because the clock was winding down but because Nicole saw the Chiles keeper out of position.

“I was setting it up, and I could hear my coach yelling there’s no whistle,” Nicole said. “Their wall hadn’t been set up yet but the ref is telling me I can go, so I went. I saw that their goalie was out of place and not in position yet so I just kicked it, it hit off the wall and Jesse finished it.”

“They left me alone, and I got a perfect pass from Nikki and just knocked it in,” Jessica Lee said. “That was really big for us. We already had confidence because we had been playing well but the momentum from that goal, we really took off from there.”

But the final three goal margin is slightly deceiving in that, when the whistle blew for the second half water break, it was still a 1-0 game.

It wasn’t until senior captain Lorena Alvarez dropped a perfect corner kick in front of the net and Gianna Gray headed it in past Chiles goalkeeper Grace Gerteisen with 16:30 to play to put Lourdes up 2-0 that Bobcat players could start to relax.

When Gray broke loose down the left side and cut in centering a perfect pass to Nicole Lee, Lee knocked it in with 8:51 left. It was then that the party on the Lourdes sideline and the stands was under way. Fique and his coaches went into a long group hug, and embraced. They knew the outcome had been sealed.

“I felt like we were more or less dominating the first half because we were possessing the ball on their end but just couldn’t connect in the final third to get a goal,” Alvarez said. “But when we got that goal just before half, that’s what gave us the momentum we needed to take into the second half and finally finish it. All of us as a team, we came together in the hotel this morning and said we were going to bring that trophy home with us not matter what it took.”

Nicole Lee who endured two of those championship game losses last year and in 2023 was then asked if the pain of having suffered through those defeats made her appreciate the championship moment that much more.

“Absolutely, a hundred percent,” Lee said. “We would get a taste of winning a championship every year and then get turned away in the championship game. It hurt so much. We didn’t want to have to go through it again, especially because this was the last high school game for me and my sister. There was not going to be any next year for us so we’re just so happy and grateful that we get to go out like this.”