NICEVILLE — The latest feather in the cap of an 18-1-1, top-ranked campaign, the Niceville girls soccer team made 6A defending state champion Bartram Trail look pedestrian Tuesday at Twin Oaks Soccer Complex.
The Eagles outshot the visiting Bears 11-1 on goal, dominated possession and built a 3-0 lead that easily could’ve been 6-0. By night’s end of the Region 1-6A championship, Michelle Melancon netted two goals, Payten Hart added some highlight-reel insurance and Niceville’s defense pitched its 15th clean sheet as the Eagles avenged last year’s region championship loss in a 3-0 win.
Three wins down, two to go for Final 4-bound Niceville.
“Play your game,’ that’s what I told them,” Niceville coach Kelly Fernandez said. “That’s what they did tonight.”
Melancon’s game-winner came just before halftime off a deflection from an Abbey Kuritz cross.
“It took a lot of pressure off, but we still knew a 1-0 lead is dangerous,” said Melancon, who delivered a hat trick two rounds earlier against Navarre in the region quarterfinals. “We never let up. We knew we had to do our best, keep pushing, getting back and defending. But yeah, after that first goal our hopes really lifted.”
Before the game-winner, Fernandez subbed Melancon out and told her to get more involved. Melancon immediately did just that, and the senior would book end the night with a goal in the 67th minute to punch what is the first Final 4 for Fernandez and her players.
“It feels amazing,” Melancon said. “This is all of our first time heading to the Final 4, so it’s just the best thing in the world. I hope that we can win it all.”
All postseason, Niceville’s been able to spread around the scoring en route to a 23-1 margin of victory. That includes eight different goal scorers and double-digit players with an assist. The right-footed Hart proved Tuesday night her left leg is just as good, the sophomore needing just two steps to net a left-footer across her body from 20 yards out.
“She’s been itching for (that moment) for a long time,” Fernandez said. “You know, that’s the ankle she got hurt, and it hasn’t been strong since. I think she’s got it back now.”
Niceville enters the Final 4 as the top-ranked team, set to face Region 3 champion and fourth-seeded Lakewood Ranch (16-2-3) Feb. 23 at 1 p.m. atDeLand’s Spec Martin Stadium. The other state semifinal will feature second-seeded St. Thomas Aquinas and third-seeded Viera.
Niceville, which has yet to lose to a 6A foe this season, is focused solely on itself.
“At this point, if you scout, you can get in your own head,” Fernandez said. “It’s more of, I mean, we’ll watch the tape, but we won’t really talk about it. Yep, at this point, it’s more about just keeping the girls sound and keeping everybody involved because although we only play 15 kids, if I didn’t have all of them, we wouldn’t have a team.
“They’re hungry. They’re great players.”
Great and experienced, the Eagles with eight seniors and nine juniors. It’s that foundation that’s created a 98-7 margin of victory with no foe scoring more than three goals on the Eagles.
“We’re ready to face anyone at this point,” Melancon said. “We have a lot of faith and trust in each other.”
This article originally appeared on Northwest Florida Daily News: Niceville girls soccer routs defending state champ, on to Final 4
Reporting by Seth Stringer, Northwest Florida Daily News / Northwest Florida Daily News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
