Shark Attack: Ponte Vedra shuts out Archbishop McCarthy for soccer title

DELAND — Filing away from the sidelines for the last walk of the season, freshman goalkeeper Audrey Johnson laughed with her Ponte Vedra teammates and remembered the first tryout of the preseason, the plans they made that day, and the way the journey was finishing.

"We knew we were going to come here and win," Johnson recalled. "And I kept my word."

A promise kept. A championship complete.

The drive to DeLand turned into the dream ending for the Sharks, who captured the third Florida High School Athletic Association title in school history by defeating Fort Lauderdale Archbishop McCarthy 2-0 in Friday's Class 5A final at Spec Martin Stadium.

Junior midfielder Tamlyn Parkes, returned to full strength from a knee injury that had derailed her season a year ago, netted both goals to earn Ponte Vedra's first girls soccer trophy in nine years.

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Each goal grew from the same connection, with Parkes finishing off assists from senior Ella Shapiro.

"We've got a lot of great players, a lot of heart," Ponte Vedra girls soccer coach Dave Silverberg said. "But each team needs to have a difference-maker or two, and they are difference-makers, both of them. And they showed it the last month of the season."

One year after losing 2-0 to Archbishop McCarthy on the same field, the Sharks turned the tables.

"They had some athletes last year that gave us a fit," Silverberg said. "We played at them this year. Even when we scored, we said, 'Don't back up. Let's just keep going at them and put the pressure on them to have to play hard.' I think it showed in the last 15 or 20 minutes, and I think we were fresher than them."

Junior defender Kaylan Heinz said last year's experience had taught them to avoid complacency.

"We knew we had to work for it," she said.

That work paid off 22 minutes in. Shapiro took possession just across midfield on the left sideline, looked across the field and lofted a high cross to the top of the box and straight into the path of Parkes.

The junior brought the ball down skillfully and finished with a low blast past Archbishop McCarthy goalkeeper Paloma Pena.

"She's always accurate," Parkes said. "I know wherever she plays it, somebody's going to get on top of it. She played a perfect ball to me, and I just had a good touch and placed it."

"We're defensive, we don't score a lot of goals, so it was huge," Silverberg said. "Just like last year, when they scored [after 10 minutes against Ponte Vedra], it was almost a mirror opposite."

The Sharks kept a close watch on Archbishop McCarthy's elusive forward Sophia Goetz, screening off the defensive line with Carson Beliakoff and Maggie Mace closing down space in front.

Five minutes into the second half, the attacking connection struck again.

Cutting back from the right side, Shapiro dropped a short pass into the path of Parkes' run from deep, and her low shot skittered underneath Mavericks goalkeeper Pena.

From there, the Sharks' defensive line — Eli Mabe, Victoria Villasana, Olivia Bestic and Abbey Mulhall — slammed the door, denying space to the Mavericks (22-2-2) and nailing down the shutout. McCarthy's only scoring chance was a snap shot from Goetz from 15 yards, but Johnson shifted into perfect position for the save.

"They help each other, they communicate, they have confidence in each other," Silverberg said. "There's never panic. If somebody makes a mistake, no big deal. They're very smart and very tough mentally."

"It's kind of a relief, knowing that our defense is a wall," Johnson said. "They're so good back there."

After the months of uncertainty from the coronavirus pandemic, Ponte Vedra — champion in 2009 and 2012 — concluded its season with St. Johns County's second championship of the day, after Bartram Trail's victory in the Class 7A final.

Ponte Vedra (14-3-5) captured its second FHSAA girls championship of the school year, after completing an undefeated volleyball season in November. 

Friday's win was championship number seven for Silverberg, who also won four championships at Nease but had been denied in his last three trips to the final, in 2013, 2016 and 2020.

"They kind of never blinked," Silverberg said. "They got some momentum going and felt confident, and I told them they made me confident. Sometimes as a coach, you want to portray that [confidence], but they gave it to me. They were fantastic."