FLYING HIGH: Menendez girls soccer eliminates St. Augustine, makes late playoff push

Chris Boyle, St. Augustine Record
·2 min read
Salah Miller (4) leads Menendez with 16 goals this season. She converted a penalty kick in the fifth round of Friday night's district semifinal shootout against St. Augustine.
Salah Miller (4) leads Menendez with 16 goals this season. She converted a penalty kick in the fifth round of Friday night's district semifinal shootout against St. Augustine.

ST. AUGUSTINE — Few moments in high school sports provide quite as much tension as a win-or-go-home, penalty-kick shootout. Menendez's players got a feel for the pressure cooker Friday night in their District 3-5A semifinal showdown with rival St. Augustine, and handled the spotlight in a variety of ways.

Senior goalkeeper Lulu St. Vincent said she focuses as hard as she can, making herself look as big as possible by "waving her arms in the air like a maniac." Forward Salah Miller, another senior, might have been a bit squeamish as she attempted to keep the Falcons alive in the fifth round, with the score knotted at two apiece.

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"Personally, I felt like I was going to throw up," said Miller, the team's leading scorer with 16 goals.

The Falcons held their nerve when it mattered most. Giada Dacorone buried her shot in the sixth round, and St. Vincent made a sprawling, two-hand save to secure passage into Monday's championship game at top-seeded Orange Park.

Menendez, which went 4-8-0 during the regular season, has a golden opportunity to snatch a spot into the FHSAA's regional playoffs.

"We just wanted to beat St. Augustine," second-year head coach Brandy Andreu said. "To win districts, it would just be extra for us. … The emotions went up and down (tonight)."

Menendez's Alayna Dial (12) and St. Augustine's Kelsey Maxwell (22) battle for the ball during Friday's District 3-5A semifinal.
Menendez's Alayna Dial (12) and St. Augustine's Kelsey Maxwell (22) battle for the ball during Friday's District 3-5A semifinal.

St. Augustine (10-5-2) defeated the Falcons twice before, on each side of the winter break. The Yellow Jackets recorded a 4-3 victory on Dec. 20 in spite of a Miller hat trick, and a 2-1 triumph on Jan. 18.

Friday, the Falcons grabbed the lead in both halves of regulation — only for the Jackets to immediately respond and level the score.

"We had adrenaline when we scored the goal to go up (1-0)," St. Vincent said. "Then we came back down, and it took a toll on us in a way. We had the upset. It was great in those moments, but it made us lose our consciousness on the field. We had to reset."

Menendez produced a similar postseason push last year in spite of regular-season adversity. The Falcons upended a nearby rival (Matanzas) in the district semifinals, but lost the title game — to Ridgeview, on its home field. They still earned a wild card and qualified for the Florida High School Athletic Association's Class 5A playoffs.

This season, finishing runner-up will not be enough. Based on the FHSAA's power rankings, the champion alone is expected to advance.

"We've taken into consideration that we have a lot of seniors on our team," St. Vincent said. "We have to put in our all, and lay it all out."

This article originally appeared on St. Augustine Record: FHSAA girls soccer: Menendez eliminates St. Augustine in district tournament