DELAND - St. Johns Country Day School senior Julia Boaventura, amidst waves of underclassmen around her for a 2022 season that saw her Lady Spartans appear to be mortal with three regular season losses, snapped a 0-0 halftime tie with Shorecrest Prep in the Class 2A championship game with two goals out of the halftime lockers to give St. Johns an 11th straight state title; 2-0 the final.

Boaventura, by her own admission was slightly off her game in the first half but was dialed back in by her team and Spartan coach Mike Pickett.

“Especially me in the first half, I was thinking this was my last time playing, so it was really hard,” said Boaventura heading to Southern Mississippi next fall. “The second half, we all played together and I thank God I had the two opportunities to score. I am so happy right now.”

In the scoreless first half, St. Johns had numerous wicked shots on goal included a missile from Kamryn Towers and a crossbar deflection from Lauren Mateo, but Shorecrest goalie Sonoma Kasica, just a sophomore, kept the Spartans off the scoreboard with astounding deflections and saves in front of her net.

After eight shots on goal in the first half, Kasica blanked the Spartans in the opening stanza before Pickett found her vulnerability.

“She (Kasica) was unbelievable,” said Pickett. “Crazy good. Best keeper we played all year. She kept them in the game and all they needed was one chance and they (Shorecrest) are winning the game. We needed to get the end line on her and draw her out of the middle of her goal. She was too good on shot stopping. We did it twice and cashed them in.”

After laying out the game plan to his team, the girls went out and flawlessly executed.

Once the Spartans made the adjustments to pull the keeper forward, it was all Boaventura needed to head the ball past Kasica from the top of the penalty box line, fed from Ava Johnson in minute 56 of the competition, to put St. Johns on the board.

Asked if she saw it go in where she wanted it to, Boaventura admitted “I think I did. My heading is something I’ve been working on and getting better at.”

Just four minutes later, with a feeding pass from Towers, Boaventura, off her left foot three meters outside the penalty box line, blasted a cannon shot by Kasica to put her team out front 2-0.

With her mind still in a whirlwind, the senior commented on the second goal. “The feed was perfect. Just that opportunity for me to score again. I can’t believe it. I don’t have the words right now and just have to celebrate with my team now.”

On the far end of the field, the Spartan defense was nearly impenetrable, holding the Chargers to only three shots on goal, with sophomore keeper Roxy Mathews owning shutouts in the entire seven game playoff run.

“At first I was really nervous," said Mathews. "This was the first time playing a championship not as a field player. After the first five minutes and seeing we had most of the control, I settled down and I knew I just had to do my best.”

Late in the game, on one of the Chargers shots that had a laser beam for a corner, Mathews got 10 feet tall, arms up and robbed a sure goal.

“When I made that save, I was like, wow I’m confused. Was that going in, was it not going in?," said Mathews. "At the moment, it didn’t feel real,” as the goal tender followed her instincts and deflected the shot that could have changed the face of the game. “I’m very happy I went for it. As a goalkeeper, you never know, should you go for it, should you not? I’m just glad I did.”

Through the 2022 seven game playoff run, St. Johns amassed a total 50 points and held all seven opponents to zero goals.

With the 11 straight state champions started in 2011, the current seniors were in first grade as the streak began. With a total now of 14 high school state championships, to include all major team sports (basketball, baseball, football, softball and volleyball) only St. Thomas Aquinas has more with 15 championships.