ORANGE PARK - St. Johns Country Day School girls soccer coach Mike Pickett had a slim smile on his face after his Lady Spartans won a 7-0 region championship win over University Christian Wednesday night.
"We didn't play well at all in the first 20 minutes, then we kind of got organized," said Pickett, who earned his 22nd region title with hopes of returning to the 1A state championship game in Deland on Wednesday. "We have to come out a little stronger if we can expect to win at the next level."
St. Johns, who lost in 1A state semifinal to Shorecrest Prep 1-0 last year, will be joined in the Class 2A Final Four with Pine High out of Stuart (15-3-3, 1A region quarters last year) with a 5-3 region final win over Victory Christian Academy (16-6-1, 1A region quarters last year); Indian Rocks Christian Academy (20-1, 1A region quarters last year) a 3-2 winner over Canterbury (17-5-2) and South Florida HEAT (16-7, lost in 2A region final) a 5-0 winner over Westwood Christian out of Miami (12-2-2).
In the FHSAA February 20 girls soccer rankings, St. Johns Country School is the lone 1A program in the top 20 of the All Classes rankings led by No. 1 4A- American Heritage, No. 2 3A-Montverde Academy and No. 3 Creekside in 7A.
In the Class 7A state final, Lake Mary defeated Cypress Bay 2-0 and in the Class 6A final, Bartram Trail defeated St. Thomas Aquinas 4-3 for their fourth consecutive title.
In Class 5A, Ponte Vedra defeated Lourdes Academy 2-1.
In Class 4A, American Heritage beat defending champion Bishop Moore 3-0.
On the St. Johns schedule is a 2-0 loss to Bartram Trail, a 4-0 loss to Ponte Vedra and a 3-1 loss to Bishop Moore that follows coach Mike Pickett's contention that his schedule is the toughest year in and year out.
In the All Classes rankings, South Florida HEAT is ranked 94th with an 8-0 loss to True North Classical Academy (8-6), a 4-2 loss to Saint Andrews, a 4-1 loss to Coral Springs Charter with January losses to Pine Crest (4-0) and King's Academy (9-1). Since the 9-1 loss to King's Academy, HEAT has won six games in a row with a scoring gap of 47-4 with an 11-3 win on January 17 over Franklin Academy.
One final statistic of season data; strength of schedule, which measures quality wins against high ranked opponents, game results and teams playing teams below their classes; 3A beats 1A versus 1a loses to 7A, St. Johns has an astounding 18.6 strength of schedule while none of the other three Final Four teams; Indians Rocks Christian, Pine and South Florida HEAT measure above the 3.7 strength of schedule of Indians Rocks Charter. Pine is at 1.9 while HEAT is at 2.5.
St. Johns, since a 3-1 loss to defending 4A champion Bishop Moore on December 20 (Moore just lost in 4A final to American Heritage), the Spartans have won eight wins in a row with no goals against the defense. Comparing to HEAT, the last six games for St. Johns have been wins against teams totaling 64 wins, 44 loss and 10 ties. HEAT's last six games, all wins also were against teams with a cumulative won/lost score of 47 wins, 42 losses with three teams with losing records. St. Johns' wins were four with winning records and two with 9-9 season finishes and the Spartans outscoring the final eight teams 37-0.
In their region final win over University Christian (11-4-1), with sideline forward Victoria Sarka striking first after a nifty midfield feed from midfielder Callie Berrang at the 33 minute mark for St. Johns, the Spartan offense sputtered for most of the first half with University Christian seemingly just a step faster to open balls for most of the half.
"We have to come out more aggressive and get to the open spaces," said Berrang, a junior and one of a handful of players from the 2A champions in 2022 when she was an eighth grader. "I try to encourage the younger players on the team during the game because I can see the whole field and can direct them."
Berrang, with her 2022 teammates, mostly seventh and eighth graders at the time; CeCe Nowicki, Ayla Frisbee, Mia Johnson, Bree Barry, Elizabeth Nowicki, Cali Hoshouser, now 2025 teammates, chasing the elusive return to a state title trophy team, one of the primary motivations for the season is to restart the state title string that Pickett had for 11 years.
"We know all about the 11 years of state titles and want to be part of the new streak before we leave," said Berrang. "Coach Pickett gave us a a good pep talk and told us we had to lock in with force if we wanted to get a ticket to the show. We all knew our first half was not good enough."
St. Johns' second goal came from junior Reygan Ropero, who just after the 20 minute water break, broke away for a solo challenge, but missed a straight on shot to a goalie save, then regrouped to blast a her goal at 14 minutes after getting a service feed from Sarka. Sarka's kick from the left corner came again from a midfield feed from Berrang.
"I'm always attracting a lot of attention when in the box and have gotten shots on goal, but just misses also," said Ropero. "I'm always in a crowd, but I also attract defenders that lets other teammates get scoring shots."
Right after her water break return quick goal, Ropero again hit paydirt with a wrestling battle between three defenders to get the score to 3-0 just two minutes later.
The half ended at 3-0.
"Coach Pickett had a very intense halftime chat with us," said Berrang. "We knew what he wanted us to do and we were expected to execute his plan."
In the second half, with senior Kaitlyn Sunderhaus now patrolling the forward part of the offense and adding her leg speed, the Spartans went on a shot-fest with multiple shots on goal that junior Madisyn Bauman first struck rifling in with her left foot after Sunderhaus allowed Sarka's feed pass to cross the goal face to Bauman.
Bauman also got a second goal on a breakaway and a shovel shot that floated over the University goalie's head to put the game at 5-0 with 25 minutes to go in the game.
With Pickett putting in his young players for some playoff experience, the Spartans nailed two more goals with Cal Hoshouser and Rylie Snow both finding the net to end the game.