Prep lacrosse: St. Thomas Aquinas rallies past Barron Collier girls in state semifinals
JUPITER – The Barron Collier High School girls lacrosse team's drive to win its first state championship fell short Friday afternoon with a 12-9 loss to Fort Lauderdale-St. Thomas Aquinas in the state semifinals at Jupiter High School.
Aquinas, the second-ranked team in the state, scored five unanswered goals in the last 7:20 to overcome the Cougars’ 9-7 lead, which they took by scoring the first three goals of the second half.
It was a match of extended scoring runs, with only one stretch in the last minutes of the first half in which the teams traded goals.
Prep girls lacrosse: Rested Barron Collier going for it all in state finals
After Aquinas opened a 4-0 lead, the Cougars scored nine of the next 12 goals. Then Aquinas took over.
“They like to get up and down the field,” Barron Collier coach Rob Chomo said. “We like to push the tempo when it’s convenient.”
It didn’t help the Cougars when they were whistled for their fourth yellow card with 1:22 remaining in the match, forcing them to try to play catch-up shorthanded.
“They were playing keep-away and it’s impossible to defend that down one player,” Chomo said.
But it was the missed scoring opportunities in the second half that were most costly, Chomo said.
“We were up two, and had six good scoring opportunities, face-to-face with the goal, and couldn’t put it away,” he said. “They took advantage of those stops. Their stars shined today.”
St. Thomas Aquinas (19-1) plays Orlando-Bishop Moore, which beat Ponte Vedra Beach 19-12 in the other semifinal, for the championship Saturday afternoon.
Prep lacrosse: Barron Collier girls break Vero Beach's hex, make state semifinals
The Cougars (19-2) got here by finally beating perennial power Vero Beach, which had ended their season six years in a row, in the quarterfinals last week.
On Friday, Barron Collier seniors Jo Imbriani and Jaclyn Berry led the Cougars with four goals apiece. Senior Cami Lange scored the other goal.
“I think we sort of fell apart at the end,” Imbriani said. “They are a great team. It’s not the outcome we wanted.”
Senior captain Sophie Tillotson said, “They got the better of us in the end. We had the shots. We had the opportunities. It just didn’t go our way.”
