American Heritage girls capture Florida 5A state soccer championship in PKs

DELAND, Florida – Jillian Miliffe made five saves in regulation, then a save of Mariner’s last penalty kick Friday to help the Plantation American Heritage Patriots dethrone the 5A champion Tritons, 4-2, in penalty kicks in the FHSAA Class 5A girls soccer state final.

Samantha Villaverde, Courtney Caruso, Amanda Caines and Nyema Freeman each scored in penalty kicks after regulation and two 10-minute overtime periods went scoreless.

American Heritage (18-2-2) won its 12th title and sixth under coach Cindy Marcial. Marcial lauded the family atmosphere the Patriots showed as they tried to win their first title since 2019.

Sisters Nyema and Zahira Freeman and sisters Ava and Isabelle Cipolla lead the defense, while Dori Johnson and Janae Johnson also helped hold Mariner scoreless.

“We have three sets of sisters on our team, we have an aunt and a niece,” Marcial said. “This is a really family-bonded team. Last year I graduated 11 seniors. People said there’s no way you guys were going to win. Every day these girls trained and trained. A lot of missed opportunities. But you know what? When we were going to PKs, I knew we were going to win. We’d practiced that for two months.”

American Heritage drew the first kick each round. Villaverde beat the keeper low left to put American Heritage up 1-0, then Mariner’s Sarah Paddock answered with a kick into the high-right corner.

Caruso and Mariner’s Ryleigh Acosta each made it 2-2. But after Caines beat the keeper right, Gloria Quintanilla hit one off the right post to leave the Patriots up 3-2.

Freeman then beat the keeper low left to clinch the victory.

“Lining up, I had a vision of us celebrating when the game was over,” Freeman said. “The shot before me, the girl missed it, so there was a lot of pressure on me to make it. I knew I should do it for my team.”

Miliffe’s last save capped a state final where she had five saves, several in the second half. She made a diving save off a shot by Mariner’s Caroline Pelkofski, a shot that was obstructed.

Then she made a kick save on a shot from Pelkofski with 1:54 left in the second overtime.

“I follow the way they followed the ball,” Miliffe said. “If they looked more one side, I went to the other side.”

Marcial added, “Jillian making that huge save in the end, great job. Then tipping the ball on the PKs, (the game ball) is going to her.”

Mariner keeper Lataya Simmons equalled Miliffe in holding the Patriots scoreless through 100 minutes. Simmons had nine saves. Simmons snagged an American Heritage corner kick in a crowd just before the first-half water break.

“We were just trying to stay in our shape and make sure we won our 50-50 balls,” Mariner coach Jami Hagy said.

About halfway through the second half, the Patriots started moving more players forward and testing Mariner’s defense.

The Patriots missed a chance just toward the end of regulation. Samantha Villaverde passed to an open Nyema Freeman, however, she was whistled offside with 15 seconds left in regulation.

Villaverde and Freeman almost connected again early in the first overtime, but Simmons beat Freeman to Villaverde’s pass.

Mariner kept a forward and two midfielders forward to pressure each American Heritage pass. Mariner freshman Carly Paz shot, but Patriots defender Victoria Burns blocked the shot. Paz corralled the rebound and shot again, but senior defender Nyema Freeman cleared the shot with 4:37 left in the half.

Hagy said the Tritons were without four injured starters.

“They’re hard workers,” Hagy said. “Even when we were down a player, you could see the fight in them. I’m extra proud of this team.”