ORANGE PARK - St. Johns Country Day School senior forward Julia Boaventura scored four goals as host St. Johns Country Day School continued its rampage through the Class 2A playoffs with an 8-0 demolition of Ft. Lauderdale Westminster Academy in a state semifinal on Friday in Orange Park.

The top-ranked Spartans have ended each of their playoff games early under the mercy rule, outscoring their six opponents by a combined 48-0. They have won eight straight overall.

SJCDS head coach Mike Pickett, known as a perfectionist, found nothing to be concerned about afterwards.

“We were good,” he said. “I am very pleased.”

While the entire SJCDS team has peaked for the playoffs, no one is hotter than Boaventura. Pickett called her powerful left leg “special” after her hat trick in the regional semifinal on February 16. The senior rattled off three goals in the last 20 minutes of the first half to extend a 2-0 advantage into a comfortable 5-0 lead heading into the intermission. The Southern Mississippi commit showed that defenders who shade her left foot do so at their peril, scoring three with her right foot.

“She has probably only scored one other right-footed goal in her career,” said Pickett. “She was just on tonight.”

Three times, Boaventura collected a centering pass, controlled it, and sent a missile past Westminster goal keeper Olivia Holland. The first was a right-footed shot from the upper left corner of the box that hooked into the far right side of the goal in the twentieth minute. The second was a right-footer from the center of the box off a centering pass from Sophia Pontieri, and the third was a left-footed snipe off a feed from Lauryn Mateo that sailed just under the crossbar. Boaventura scored an unassisted goal in the seventy-second minute, faking out Lions’ fullback Annabel Farrar at the left corner of the box and then targeting the near side of the goal.

The other Spartans star was Mateo, who scored the first two goals of the game on almost identical set plays. Each time, forward Hannah Lemieux tapped a corner kick inbounds to Sydney Schmidt, who tapped it back to Lemieux as she entered the field. Lemieux then sent a high cross into the box, where Mateo soared above the defense to head the ball into the net. Pickett explained after the game that the Spartans left Mateo alone in the box to give her room to operate, while her teammates surrounded the top and far side of the box. Mateo is 5’9”, but Pickett says that the junior’s fearless attitude is what allows her to excel on headers.

“Height has nothing to do with it,” he said. “It is about being able to read the ball and being brave enough to go for it.”

Mateo did take a blow to the head from Holland as she tallied her second goal.

Schmidt, an eighth grader, scored a skillful goal when she squeezed a shot between Holland and the near post on a one-on-one opportunity to make the score 6-0 in the fifty-eighth minute.

In a fitting end to the final home game for the Spartans’ seniors, senior Kamryn Towers notched the game-ending goal with 5:23 left on the clock by curling a left-footed shot from the left side of the box into the far side of the goal.

SJCDS enjoyed a 29-4 advantage in shots and a 9-0 edge in corner kicks.

Shorecrest Prep, a 4-1 winner over Geneva in Friday’s other semifinal, enters the championship game with a 15-3 record. The Spartans are 18-3-1.

“Shorecrest Prep has a lot of speed and a great goalkeeper,” said Pickett. “Their front three are burners, so if we turn the ball over, they will take advantage of it.”

Nonetheless, Pickett was confident about his squad’s chances.

“I think we are the best team in the state if we play our best.”

Westminster, making its third consecutive trip to the final four, ends its season with a 10-9-2 record. Barring transfers, all of the Lions’ starters will return next year.