High school girls soccer: Boca Raton crushes Park Vista to win another district title

BOCA RATON — Hat tricks from Jada Fernandes and Haylee Mersereau powered Boca Raton to the 7A-District 11 championship Thursday night.

The Bobcats won their ninth district girls soccer championship since 2004 by defeating Park Vista 7-0.

The top-seeded Bobcats scored four goals in the first half to put the game away early and cruised from there to remain undefeated. 

“Never thought we would score four goals in the first half against such a good team,” coach Rachael Grimes said. “Proud of the girls for putting their chances away.”

Boca Raton (9-0-3) won its two Class 7A-District 11 tournament games by a combined 15-0 scoreline, including an 8-0 win over Santaluces in the semifinals Tuesday.

More:Soccer players team up to help one of their own, a 9-year-old girl fighting a rare cancer

Subscriber exclusive:Palm Beach Post all-county large and small schools girls volleyball

Thursday’s win was the Bobcats' second over the second-seeded Cobras (6-7-3) this season. In their first meeting on Jan.19, the Bobcats won 2-0 with goals from Gabriela Shegota and Emma Mossey. Shegota was the third goal-scorer for the Bobcats Thursday, opening the second-half scoring with a goal to put Boca up 5-0. 

After a strong defensive start for both teams, the Bobcats opened the flood gates when Fernandes scored the first goal with 22:40 remaining in the half, followed by Mersereau five minutes later. Another Fernandes goal, and Mersereau's second goal of the night put Boca up 4-0 with two minutes left in the half. 

The second half was academic. 

“We started to move the ball around nicely and as a team, created some good opportunities to score,” Grimes said. “Scoring those first opportunities really put us in a position where we could settle down, and from there we kept the attack moving.”

Despite the lopsided loss, Park Vista has already booked a spot in the regional quarterfinals on Feb. 16 thanks to a 2-1 win over Spanish River in the district semifinals Tuesday.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Florida High School Athletic Association reverted to its old postseason format for winter sports, with the two top teams from each district tournament advancing to the state tournament. The Cobras will hit the road to face the district 12 winner in a regional quarterfinal matchup.

For their part, the Bobcats now have more than a week off until its own Feb. 16 regional quarterfinal, when it will host the runner-up in the Class 7A-District 12 tournament.

“Regardless of the opponent we’re going to focus on getting better and preparing ourselves to hopefully have a nice run through the regional tournament,” Grimes said. “We’re going to focus on the things that we do well, and continue to fine-tune different parts of our attack and our defense, and be ready to play.”