DELAND - St. Johns Country Day School senior midfielder CeCe Nowicki set up from near midfield and right center of the Pine School goal with a free kick that was supposed to land "on frame" and hope for a second shot off a rebound or something like that.
"I was supposed to get the ball in front of the goal and hopefully have a scramble that one of the other girls could get into the net," said Nowicki, who blasted a penalty kick goal in the Spartans 6-0 state semifinal win against South Florida HEAT just three days prior. "I just put a foot on it, let if fly and watched it go."
And it went.
Nowicki's line drive blast found the upper left part of the net and put the Spartans up 1-0 en route to a Class 1A state title 4-0 win over Pine School to return coach Mike Pickett back to the realm of state title status after a two-year hiatus.
"We wanted the win of course first to get back to state titles for our program," said Pickett, who now has 15 titles with a string of 11 straight that ended two years ago with a state semifinal finish and a state runnerup finish. "This was a very dangerous team that had one of the best players I've ever seen or coached against that could score a bunch of quick goals very suddenly. We didn't take our foot off the gas pedal from start to finish. The shutout was also important to us."
Pickett's reference to Pine School sophomore forward Giovanni Waksman, a member of numerous Brazil national age group teams and the top goal scorer in the nation with an astounding 87 goals this season with just one shutout game in her 16-2-1 season; a 5-1 loss on December 5 to King's Academy of West Palm Beach, who lost to 2A champion Benjamin in their region championship, was double and triple teamed at times, but given a game escort from St. Johns freshman Annabelle Ernst who was tasked to stayed behind Waksman no matter what.
"We did not want her to be able to get any momentum with her footwork after receiving the ball because she would be gone in a heart beat and downfield," said Pickett. "We watched film all week on her and Annabelle stayed in her pocket the whole game with help from the front from anyone who was close by usually Calli Berrang or Mia Johnson or Cal Holshouser. That was the plan and Annabelle was nearly perfect."
For Ernst, remember, just a freshman, her assignment was about as big an ask as any of her coaches would give her in her short career.
"I was more excited than scared of covering her," said Ernst. "Coach Pickett told me I could do it and just had to slow her down whenever she got close to the ball and trust my teammates coming in to help."
Waksman only got in front of Spartan goalie Alyvia Bishop twice on the game; one a free kick that bent left of the goal frame and the other a late second half breakaway that looked ominous as Bishop eyeballed Waksman rolling in from her left side.
"I saw her coming from my left and just said to myself to stay upright, cut her angle and keep on my toes," said Bishop, just a first year goalie for St. Johns. "When she passed off to her girl to my right, I moved to cover that girl and keep the shutout."
Bishop's pivot to cover Pine School's incoming forward Paige Duffin who had a one on one bead on Bishop in goal, was quick and decisive.
"I charged her and just dived to the ball," said Bishop, who suffocated the scoring attempt with much bravado that provided Pickett with a gamechanging moment that seemed to deflate the Pine School attempt at a final flurry for a late comeback. Pine School four second half goals; three by Waksman, in their 6-3 state semifinal win over Indian Rocks Christian on Wednesday.
The shutout for Bishop and her defensive front of Ernst, Johnson, Nowicki, Holshouser and Bree Barry was a final tally of 11 straight goose eggs on the scoreboard for the Spartans who were last scored up on December 20 in a 3-1 loss to Class 4A runnerup Bishop Moore (Moore was 2024 4A champion).
"I kept telling them to not let up for both reasons; the state title and the shutout streak," said Pickett. "You saw players from both sides cramping up on the field in the second and I knew that would be something that would be one factor. We kept a hard pace for the whole game and the kids played their hearts out."
Scoring wise, Nowicki would get a second penalty kick goal late in the second thanks to senior forward Kaitlyn Sunderhaus's continuous breakaway runs that, in that final tally, garnered three defenders and a crash at the goal mouth with Pine School goalie Addison Buckner.
"Their goalie was one that charge and dove for balls and we had the advantage in the second half with Kaitlyn (Sunderhaus) using her speed to outrun the defense a couple of times," said Pickett. "Kaitlyn did the same thing in the semifinal that got CeCe her first penalty kick goal in that game."
Nowicki calmly planted her free kick into the net as the final tally for the Spartans.
In the first half, after Nowicki's rocket first goal, a corner kick from Holshouser that found forward Reygan Ropero in front of the Pine School goal got a header that hit the right side goal post that ricocheted out right to a quick-thinking Victoria Sarka who buried the ball past Calli Berrang for the second goal of the game.
In the second half, Berrang, who was instrumental in patroling the 50 and finding open players on both sidelines, took a loose ball on her own all the way to the Pine School back line, then lifted a left footed pass to Ropero standing just inside the goal box.
"I just bent in and I knew we would have two or three girls in front of the goal," said Berrang. "I got a quick glance and saw Reygan, fired to her and she took the shot."
St. Johns state title run included shutouts of 8-0 against St. Johns Paul II, 4-0 against Christ's Church Academy, 7-0 against University Christian for a region title, 6-0 against South Florida HEAT in the state semifinal and the final 4-0 win over Pine School for the Class 1A title.
Scoring wise, St. Johns got seven goals in the playoff run; three region games, two Final Four games, from Victoria Sarka, a junior; four goals from senior CeCe Nowicki and junior Madisyn Bauman; three goals from junior Reygan Ropero, two goals from junior Calli Berrang; two goals from seventh grader Miley Desguin; and one goal apiece from senior Sawyer Kenney; senior Mia Johnson, sophomore Ryli Snow; eighth grader Addison Taylor, junior Isabelle Deleon, and freshman Alana Mantello.
"It's up to the young players to come back next year and return the streak back to St. Johns," said Berrang, who will return for her senior season. "We had a handful of players today who remembered the last three years after losing the title two years ago after the program won 11 in a row."