Gulliver girls’ water polo aim to dethrone familiar foe; Belen-STA to vie for boys’ title
Gulliver’s girls once ruled the state in water polo.
The Raiders put together a run of eight consecutive state titles and over 200 consecutive victories from 2001 to 2009.
Gulliver, which has won one state championship since in 2013, appears to have one of its best and deepest teams since that amazing stretch.
The Raiders put that talent and depth on display again on Friday, dominating Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas 22-8 in a state semifinal at Belen Jesuit.
“We had a little more depth than we’ve had in the past and the younger players have filled a lot of roles we didn’t have before,” Gulliver coach Carroll Vaughan said. “We have 7 to 10 players that can really play.”
Led by Kathleen Serig’s seven goals and three assists, Gulliver withstood the wait of an over two-hour lightning delay to finish off Aquinas (14-14).
Senior Gaby Montalvo scored three goals and finished with four assists and five steals. Freshman Sophia Kingston had four goals and seventh-grader Sofia Beltran had 10 blocks and six steals in goal as well as three assists.
“She’s gonna be a killer as she gets older,” Montalvo said. “She keeps getting better.”
Senior Aria Torretta, the daughter of former University of Miami quarterback Gino Torretta, scored three goals and Giorgia Pascual scored twice and dominated defensively.
“This is our next new chance to win states and we’re ready,” Pascual said. “We need to focus on our defense first and our offense will just come naturally.”
Gulliver (23-1) will next take on a familiar foe when it takes on Orlando Lake Nona in the final on Saturday at 11 a.m. Lake Nona is coached by former Gulliver coach Alex Bennett, who coached the Raiders during that eight-year state title run. Lake Nona beat Gulliver in the 2021 final to win its first of two consecutive state titles.
“We were at this point sophomore year against Lake Nona, but this time we’re ready to finish it out,” Montalvo said. “We know it’s our last year so we’re ready.”
BOYS SEMIFINALS
▪ St. Thomas Aquinas 14, Boca Raton 11: St. Thomas knew exactly what it needed to do to overcome one of the top scoring duos in the nation in Boca Raton’s Gregory Nordheim and Max Zelikov. The pair, which had combined for 235 goals entering the game, showed off their skills early as the Bobcats pulled in front 4-2 early in the second quarter.
But Aquinas (27-2-1) clamped down on the defensive end and held Nordheim and Zelikov to three goals over the rest of the game and three goals each overall.
“That team has the two best players in the state by far,” St. Thomas Aquinas coach Michael Goldenberg said. “Nobody is even close to the level they are playing so we had to build everything around how we could stop those two. We did fall behind early because we missed some assignments. We had to go over it again. A lot of mental mistakes on both sides.”
The Raiders’ own attack found their rhythm as the match progressed and pulled away in the fourth quarter on two goals from Ayden Castillo and a goal from Samuel Eastaugh. Samuel Collingwood led Aquinas with three goals.
The Raiders will next face Belen Jesuit in the state final at 1 p.m. on Saturday. The teams have met three previous times in the state final with Belen winning two of those three clashes in 2015 and 2016. St. Thomas beat Belen in 2013 to win its lone state championship.
▪ Belen 13, Winter Park 8: The Wolverines (21-1-1) will try to win their second consecutive state title and fifth overall following a solid victory over the Wildcats.
Belen jumped out to an early 6-1 lead and never trailed led by Juan Franco, who scored three of his four goals in the final three minutes of the match to secure the win. Juan Costello also had three goals.
