By Beth Jones
The top-seeded Pirates prevailed Wednesday night in the District 3-3A. The Fernandina Beach High School girls soccer team edged Bolles Bulldogs 1-0 to capture the title. Sarah Benjamin scored the lone goal.
The Fernandina Beach High School girls soccer team beat Bolles 1-0 Wednesday in the District 3-3A championship game at FBHS. Photos by Penny Glackin/Special to Nassau NewsLine
FBHS (12-2-4) and Bolles (8-9-4) drew first-round byes and played in the semifinal round. Bolles beat Wolfson 1-0 and the Pirates blanked West Nassau 7-0 on Jan. 23 to advance to the championship.
Evie Oliver and Benjamin scored two goals apiece, and FBHS got a goal each from Teagan Cochran, Kadence Gallup and Blythe Brooks. Oliver, Amelia Greene, Charleston Knight and Regan Talbert were credited with the assists. Keeper Olivia Panke had five saves in goal.
The battle isn’t over. Both teams meet up again Monday in the first round of the state playoffs. The match starts at 7 p.m. at Pirate Field, with FBHS the No. 4 seed and Bolles No. 5 in Region 1-3A.
In the quarterfinal round of the district tourney on Jan. 21, West Nassau shut out Baldwin 8-0 and Wolfson beat Andrew Jackson 9-0 to advance to their semifinal matches.
• The FBHS boys soccer team (16-6-1) beat Andrew Jackson 8-0 in the district semifinal and lost to Bolles 2-1 in the championship game.
Christian D’Mico scored the Pirates’ goal in the title match, and Brayan Rodriguez had the assist. In the Jackson match, M Lee scored five goals and had an assist, Rodriguez scored twice and provided an assist, and Angel Montoya scored a goal. Cooper Hayes, Froilan Esclusa, Amando-Ignacio Valle had an assist each, and D’Mico had two. Griffin Paetsch had a save in goal.
The FBHS Pirates take on host North Bay Haven Academy at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Region 1-3A quarterfinal round of the playoffs.
