The Seminole High School girls water polo team’s hopes of repeating as Florida State Champions fell five minutes short as Gulliver Prep from Pinecrest scored the final four goals of the final to rally for an 8-5 victory in the FHSAA State Championships at the Gian Zumpano Aquatic Center in Miami on Saturday.
In a battle of the top two ranked teams in the nation by MaxPreps, the No. 1 ranked Fighting Seminoles (28-2) got the first of two goals from Fiona Pando with 37-seconds left in the first period and would never trail until their was just 3:45 remaining in the fourth quarter.
Pando, Halle Zimlich and Caroline Brown scored for the Tribe as they built a 4-2 advantage at intermission.
But the No. 2 Raiders (27-1), whose only loss of the season came at the hands of Seminole, 8-7, at home in a regular season tournament, scored both goals in the third period to send the game to a winner-take-all fourth quarter with the score tied at 4-4.
The Noles regained the lead on a goal from Vivian Swain with 6:37 remaining.
But it was all Gulliver Prep the rest of the way as the Raiders tied the contest with 4:48 left and took the lead for good with 3:45 remaining before adding a pair of insurance scores in the final 1:09.
Seminole had advanced to the finale with a 14-5 thrashing of Miami Country Day (13-10) in Friday’s semifinals with Zimlich scoring six goals, Pando netting four goals, Raelynn Bouley powering in two goals and Swain and Brown contributing one goal each.
Meanwhile, also for the second straight year, the Seminole boys (20-9) advanced to the final 4, but were eliminated in the semifinals by Mater Lakes Academy (24-3) from Hialeah, 15-8.
Junior Becton Suber led the fighting Seminoles with four goals, while Adam Walker, Mircea Timofti, Timmy Samples and Luc Leroy contributed one score each.
The teams were coached by Ryan Ackerson with Julian Bame, Griffin Ciancimino, Tony Ackerson and Luke Jongsma serving as Assistant Coaches.
Making up the boys roster were seniors: Alex Aspinwall, Riley Tarkowski, Mircea Timofti and Alex Aspinwall; juniors: Ethan Pierson, Luc Leroy, Timmy Samples, Kabir Sinha, Becton Suber, Adam Walker, Darian West and Riley Zimmerman; sophomores: Adi Singh and Brayden Tarkowski; and freshmen: Matthew Hoang, Warren Krummick and Caden Otis.
The girls roster consisted of seniors: Clara Bouley, Caroline Brown and Fiona Pando; juniors: Alaa Lachiheb, Vivian Swain and Halle Zimlich; sophomores: Abigail Coleman, Raelynn Bouley, Delilah Parker, Julia Pando, Gabby Pierson and Aashni Popli; and freshmen: Chasity Black, Grace Lee and Sally Sunnenberg.
Go to _ https://fhsaa.com/sports/wp _ for more information.
Here are the State results:
FHSAA STATE FINALS
At Gian Zumpano Aquatic Center, Miami
GIRLS
Semifinals
Friday, April 25
Game 1 _ Seminole (28-1) 14, Miami Country Day (13-10) 5.
Game 2 _ Gulliver Prep (26-1) 14, West Orange (17-6) 4.
Championship
Saturday, April 26
Game 3 _ Gulliver Prep (27-1) 8, Seminole (28-2) 5.
BOYS
Semifinals
Friday, April 25
Game 1 _ Westminster Academy (23-2) 11, St. Thomas Aquinas (20-7) 10.
Game 2 _ Mater Lakes Academy (24-2) 15, Seminole (20-9) 8.
Championship
Saturday, April 26
Game 3 _ Westminster Academy (24-2) 10, Mater Lakes Academy (24-3) 9.
