ORANGE PARK - St. Johns Country Day School girls soccer got a beautiful crossover service pass from senior CeCe Nowicki to seventh grader Miley Desguin that the latest of young guns for coach Mike Pickett blasted in for the lone goal of a 1-0 win for the Lady Spartans over defending state champion Lakeland Christian Saturday on the St. Johns campus.
"We always strive to get to the state championship game and I am pushing these girls to play soccer the St. Johns way," said Pickett, now 6-2 in the early part of his season. "I pushed this team to just compete for balls out there; headers and loose balls, and they responded in the second half. Our first half was not St. Johns soccer, by far."
After the game, Pickett was pretty adamant about getting a 12th title under his belt after two years of finishing short of the historic mark after Saturday. One player missing from the lineup is All-American Sydney Schmidt who left the team to pursue her international career after spending the summer on the US Women's National age group team.
"We had to quickly adjust our attack to a different look because we lost her and that changed the whole strategy," said Pickett. "Other players have to maybe play different parts of the field and the entire attack is a little different, but we'll get it right."
Note: Pickett had a record 11th straight state title in 2022 (2-0 win over Shorecrest Prep) before a Final Four finish last year; lost to Shorecrest Prep in the state semifinal, and a state runner-up finish in 2023; 2-1 loss to Lakeland Christian.
"I'm about to put them through another gauntlet of great teams to play against in the second half of the season," said Pickett, noting the past two weeks of arduous games. "We are 3-0 in the past week against some tough teams with 3A Final Four finisher PK Yonge, Fleming Island, and Fletcher all wins around a loss to Ponte Vedra (defending 6A champion) in November."
Pickett's second loss was a 2-0 game to Bartram Trail, a 7A state champion and region finalist last year to eventual champion Creekside, on November 6. Bartram Trail is now in Class 6A.
On the field against Lakeland Christian, who came in 6-2 also with a loss to nationally-ranked Montverde Academy and a loss to Lake Highland Prep in early November.
"Their coach and I are really good friends and he drove all the way up here to play us," said Pickett. "We are going to continue with a tough schedule with a strong Atlantic Coast, a tough road game at 6A-Lakewood Ranch, and another road trip to 7A-Venice before going to defending 4A champion Bishop Moore to end December. Then we go to Lakeland Christian to end the regular season in January."
On the field, junior Reygan Ropero and senior Kaitlyn Sunderhaus have become the two attack points of the Spartans front with senior CeCe Nowicki the quarterback in the middle. Junior Calli Berrang leads the team with three goals.
"Those three can play anywhere on the field, either side, with CeCe having a good feel in the middle to direct traffic," said Pickett. "We don't have the big gun in the middle like in years past. I'm moving players all around to find the strongest lineup. CeCe was a defensive player for me the past three years."
Pickett noted that his defense has stepped up in the interim of finding his offense success.
"This could be the best defensive front we've ever had," said Pickett. "In the past, we have 'boa constricted' teams by our possessions of the ball. This year, we haven't been able to control the ball on our side to offset the opposing team's attack."
Pickett noted that his possession times in his losses to Ponte Vedra and Bartram Trail were nearly 35 percent of the game time.
"You can't win if you don't control the ball," said Pickett. "I'm a stats guy; Fletcher is fast as a team but we held the ball 52 percent of the game."
In the goal, Pickett applauded his new goalie, junior Aylvia Bishop, who made two spectacular stops against Lakeland Christian; one at the further upper left corner of the goal, and one a clear of a ball in the middle of the box that was scrammed around for four or five shot attempts.
"She's been here for less than a year, a competitive cheerleader," said Pickett.
Pickett noted that his travels don't reach into the Panhandle this year after games last year with Tallahassee Chiles, Niceville, Gulf Breeze, and Tallahassee Lincoln.
"Our schedule is always brutal even though sometimes the rankings just measure wins and losses," said Pickett. "It's just the way it is and we just keep playing big teams to be ready in February."
At Clay High, after moving goalie Tatum Waugh into the scoring pattern of the Blue Devils front line, the Blue Devils got a looping right-to-left arch kick from Waugh to beat Bolles 1-0 in a hard-fought game at Clay High on December 2.
Clay also got a scoring barrage in a second shutout; 8-0, on Trinity Christian Academy the next night as coach Stephanie Waugh and assistant Liz Fogarty continually jumble their lineup to find the sweet spot of the team to get a second region finals berth.
Also for Waugh, senior forward Kirra Dodson has begun to flex her scoring legs with five goals to lead the Blue Devils. Waugh has three goals.
Clay has its own gauntlet of a schedule upcoming with Orange Park (5-1-1), St. Augustine, and Ridgeview visiting Clay High before a road trip to Fleming Island, St. Johns Country Day School, and Beachside awaits the Blue Devils.
Orange Park has loaded up the wins with five in a row plus a 2-2 tie with St. Augustine entering December's lineup. Orange Park, with junior Rylynn Robinson punching in 13 goals thus far, has recent wins over West Nassau and Middleburg prior to Clay with Oakleaf after Clay and Paxon finished the year.
Oakleaf has three losses to top-ranked teams Nease, Fletcher, and Creekside in the past month, but coach Matthew Cermak plays a hard, fast game with plenty of speed on his lineup led by youngsters Franchesca Rodriguez, a sophomore, with three goals, and a freshman, Aryana Weintraub, with two goals.
Middleburg, 3-4, lost a tough game to Clay and a 4-1 game to Orange Park despite junior Olivia Rigazzi scoring six goals upfront. Bronco coach Joy Rosano needs more production away from Rigazzi as teams have schematically made Rigazzi a certain mark on the field. Junior Ruby Owens has a cannon leg, but has not found the net but once. That could change the dynamic if she gets past opposing goalies in January.
Ridgeview rookie coach Autumn Woodard has gotten some good play on the field with a recent win over Paxon and a strong 2-2 tie with Bishop Snyder as a December 16 game at Clay looms to finish December.
Down south in Keystone Heights, coach Roger Laurent is squeezing his young team for wins; 7-3-1, with a four-game win streak halted by Fernandina Beach 6-1 on December 6. Laurent got a strong 2-2 tie with unbeaten Newberry (7-0-2) to start the win streak with wins over Fort White, Trenton, and Crescent City and a tough 1-0 win over Suwannee.
Laurent has two double-digit scorers with sophomore Kayden Huntley hitting for 13 and junior Halea Lam adding 10.
Fleming Island, now 2-5, hit a tough part of their schedule with Stanton (9-2, 4th in 4A), Creekside (7A defending champion, 6-0-1, ranked 2nd in 7A), St. Johns Country Day School (1A runnerup, 6-2-0, 2nd ranked 1A) and Nease (6A, 4-2-1) all taking wins over the Golden Eagles.
Fleming Island coach Taylor Berry's schedule gets no rest with Bishop Kenny (5-1-2, 2nd in 4A), Ponte Vedra (6A defending champion), and Clay finishing in December.