Callejas’ heroics in penalty kicks vault King’s Academy to first girls state soccer title

The King’s Academy girls’ soccer team had to work overtime and then some in winning the first state soccer championship in school history at Lake Myrtle Sports Park in Auburndale.

King’s Academy sophomore Sabrina Callejas made three acrobatic saves and converted her own for good measure in the sudden-death penalty kick shootout as the Lions topped Miami Palmer Trinity 1-0 (5-4 PKs) on Wednesday to claim the 2A state title.

It marked the second straight day they had to go to PKs after the game wasn’t decided after 100 minutes of regulation and two overtimes.

As Lions coach Bri Mackrey hung the championship medal around her goalkeeper’s neck in the postgame awards ceremony, chants of “MVP, MVP” broke out from the crowd. Later in the celebration, it became official as Mackrey tossed the game ball to her. Of course, she caught it.

“I don’t really get nervous for PKs,” Callejas said. “I was just doing my part for the team. I read the shooter’s body language, so I know they are mostly going to kick to my right.

“Sabrina is insane,” said Mackrey, whose team finished a program-best 23-1.

This is her eighth season in charge and said the team overcame obstacles along the way, including a red card to Callejas after she used her hands outside the box in the regional semifinals. The Lions appealed, and Callejas was reinstated for the regional final. “She saved 5 PKs in the two days at states, and made some insane saves during the game to get us to PKs. She was on fire.”

Mackrey also cited her team’s win over Benjamin for the district title as the other key goal. The Lions only allowed seven goals all season, with Callejas earning her 18th clean sheet on Wednesday.

“This team hasn’t ever shown this much grit and perseverance in their life,” Mackrey said. “When I came in eight years ago, they were a little weak, and it’s great to see your hard work finally pay off. You really have to trust the process of building a team. Five of these players were starting as middle school players.”

Sophia Cueto converted the winning penalty kick. Callejas, Deionce Storey, Juliette Turner, and Lola Hathorne also scored.

“I felt the responsibility to finish the job after all of Sabrina’s saves,” Cueto said. “

Hathorne, an FAU commit, said the team had a ritual in their locker room with the No. 13 written on a paper towel signifying how many overall state championships the school would have if the girls prevailed.

“It was a long time coming,” Hathorne said. “This feels absolutely amazing. We wanted to be the 13th state championship the school had won. We had a motto that if you were able to walk, you could give it your all. We knew they won 8-0 the day before, and we had to go overtime. I kept telling my team to put their bodies on the line.”

Junior defender Mia Mackrey, also a key contributor in the win, said it was special to win for the school and to do it with her mom.

“We have both wanted it for so long and worked so hard for it,” Mia Mackrey said. “To win it with her is doubly rewarding. “It was pretty stressful to go to PKs on both days, but we knew Sabrina had our back. When the ref blew the whistle, it was ultimate bliss.”

The Lions, who started the year 15-0 before falling 1-0 to 7A regional finalist Wellington, closed the year winning its last eight games. It included the back-to-back penalty-kicks wins over perennial state champion Lakeland Christian and Palmer.

King’s Academy was on its heels early as Palmer (18-3-1) dominated the first 10 minutes, showing how they were able to mercy-rule Providence 8-0 in the state semifinal 8-0, but then King’s settled in.

Gibbons’ bid for undefeated season thwarted

Cardinal Gibbons saw its hopes for both an undefeated season and a 3A state championship come to an end on Saturday morning with a crushing 2-0 loss to Montverde Academy in a battle of nationally ranked teams.

Montverde Academy (21-1-1) got two goals in the final 12 minutes — from junior midfielder Lola Rey (68th minute) and junior forward Marta Arbenina (75th minute) — to win their 10th consecutive game since its only loss of the season, at St. Thomas Aquinas on Dec. 13.

Rey had a hat trick in the state semifinal and eight tallies in her last four games for the Eagles, ranked No. 2 in the nation by MaxPreps.

“I can’t be upset at all with what our girls did out there,” said Cardinal Gibbons coach Margo Flack, who won the school’s lone girls soccer title in 2021. It was their fourth runner-up finish. “There’s been times where we’ve gone down, and they could have quit, and they have not.”

“We’ve had different heroes throughout the postseason,” Flack added. “We knew our legs were going to be tired after the semifinal, and we knew we’d get a couple of chances, and we would need to finish them, and we didn’t. We continued to fight, and that’s all we asked of them.”

In the state semi, Cardinal Gibbons sophomore Reagan Hood scored early, and the Chiefs’ defense did the rest as they held off crosstown rival North Broward Prep 1-0 in the 3A state semifinal.

Senior Caroline Findley dribbled into the area and took a shot that rebounded to Hood, who chipped it over senior goalkeeper Zoie Brown’s head in the 15th minute, and senior Kennedy McCausland recorded her 13thshutout of the season for the Chiefs.

“I think that helped settle us down,” said Flack of Hood’s goal in the semifinal. “I don’t think the pressure ever gets to them. I think they thrive on pressure. Throughout this season, when adversity has hit us, we have responded well.”

Sophomore Abigail Gillette, and junior Shiloh Simmons also helped anchor the backline for the Chiefs, ranked No. 7 nationally.

“It hasn’t been just me,” said McCausland, a three-year starter who reclassified this year and is headed to Belmont University. “When we got the early goal, we settled down, and towards the end it got a little chaotic. I don’t think it is pressure. I think it is more excitement than anything else.”

Hood, who fired off eight shots in the first half alone, was running free in the midfield for most of the match.

“That was definitely one of my top 5 goals,” Hood said. “As a team, we have literally taken it day by day. We are a very technical team that works hard. I think that has been the aura of this team.”

North Broward Prep coach Tricia Amrhein said the team always believed they could come back from the deficit, having done so twice before, knocking off defending state champion Somerset Canyons in both the district and regional finals.

“The focus was on surviving the first half, regrouping, and motivating the players for a strong second half,” she said. “I think we created more opportunities in the second half, but for the first time this season, we just ran out of gas and hit a wall. We just couldn’t find the back of the net early on.”

Junior two-sport star Jayda Palumbo had a few early chances for the Eagles, but couldn’t get on the scoring sheet.

Amrhein said losing to a local rival in the semifinals was especially painful, made harder by the close bonds with the senior class.

“I told them that this is going to be something that they’re always going to remember, and I know that it hurt, but that I was just super proud of them,” she continued. “When we lost to Benjamin in the state semifinals, it was just a 40-minute ride (to West Palm). This was an actual trip. This group of seniors is just truly, truly special. I have been coaching many years, and a group like this only comes ever so often.”

Berean falls to Canterbury in semi

Canterbury (Fort Myers) got two goals each from freshman forward Mia Accola and senior Mackenzie Molina as the Cougars defeated Berean Christian 4-0 in the 1A state semifinals on Friday morning at the Lake Myrtle Sport Complex in Auburndale.

Berean’s girls (16-5) were the first team in any sport in school history to advance to the state final four in any sport. Bulldogs coach Jon Iverson, who has been at the school since 2009, was an assistant coach the following year and has been the head girls coach since 2011, noted that the program has come on as of late, winning three straight district titles.

“This was awesome. If I had known it would be this great, I would have done it before,” Iverson joked by phone. “I didn’t know until we won regionals that we were the first team to go to state. The whole experience, getting a police escort to the Turnpike and having a guy holding a cardboard sign at the entrance stand up from his wheelchair and salute us, is something we will never forget.

“(The school) kept that a secret from us,” he added. “The girls were crying on the bus, and they were Facetiming their moms at work, and their moms were crying. It was such a great experience.”

Despite being outshot 6-2 in the first half and 15-3 in the game, Berean Christian was still in the contest at halftime, trailing 1-0. Molina, however, doubled the margin with a tally in the 66th minute.