MIA Girls Soccer Heartbreaker

Drama filled every moment of Marco Island Academy's 1A District 12 district semifinal girls soccer game at St. John Neumann on Monday, January 27. While the 4-seed Rays held a lead for much of the game, it’s the top-seed Celtics who will play for the district championship after overcoming a 1-0 second-half deficit to turn back MIA, 2-1.  

“MIA was up 1-0 for like three quarters of the game,” said Jerry Miller, MIA athletic director, "and then lost 2-1. Heartbreaker. I was told it was their best game.” 

Miller was juggling a district semifinal boys soccer game and conference tournament basketball game Monday on the MIA campus but took time to check in with the girls team, whose improvement he’s enjoyed watching this season. 

"I feel bad for them,” Miller said, “because it would have been really nice to win that. That would have been fun for them, for sure. But they have gotten better. I've seen a lot of growth throughout the season." 

The Rays got off on the right foot by winning their district quarterfinal match over Seacrest, 3-0, on Thursday, Jan. 23, at Manta Ray Field. The Rays, 4-8-1, were in control all the way against winless Seacrest (0-11). Head coach Jax Wantlin has been coaching her team to be more aggressive when in scoring position. She likes what she saw from her team against Seacrest. 

"I love what they did,” Wantlin said. "They took shots. We tried a couple people in different spots, and they really showed us that they wanted to do it. They definitely took shots, which was a big thing. We needed to have somebody to actually aim towards goal and hopefully make it. If not, then they tried. I think they actually tried it tonight. We tell them that you're never going to be comfortable when you're trying to shoot. You just take a shot. If you're comfortable when you're trying to shoot, it won't go in most likely. That's what I like to say.” 

Wantlin wanted her team to believe they could turn things around against the 10-6 Celtics in their semifinal, and they almost did. 

Neumann (11-6) hosts the winner of the semifinal between 2-seed First Baptist Academy and 3-seed Village School on Thursday, January 30, at 6:00 PM, for the district title.