American Heritage-Delray girls lacrosse reaches state title once again

Stop us if you've heard this before: American Heritage-Delray girls lacrosse is headed to the state championship.

The Stallions downed Community School of Naples in a Class 1A state semifinal, 12-3, setting the program up for its seventh state title appearance since 2018.

It did not take long for Florida State commit Madison Vargas to get the Stallion on the board early, scoring off of Heritage-Delray's first possession, while Brown commit Jamie Woelfel added a second several minutes later.

Looking back at last year: Tying goal called back, American Heritage falls in Class 1A title match

A long list of attacking players proceeded to strike for the Stallions, with Penn State commit Hali Horvath and Columbia commit Lily Svirky getting involved around the crease to help Heritage-Delray build up a 5-0 lead by the end of the first quarter.

Despite the early momentum by the Stallions, University of Louisville commit Sophia Dapper made several impressive saves to keep the Seahawks in the contest, matching the excellence of Heritage-Delray's Ashley Egbert in net.

12 underclassmen donned black for Community School of Naples on Friday afternoon, but Dapper made it clear in the buildup to the state semifinal that their youth is not a reason to doubt their ability.

"We've grown up and become a unit," Dapper said earlier this week. There's so many new girls who've joined, and now we're all just sort of formed as one, and we're one big family."

That margin began to grow in the second quarter with Svirky in particular applying tremendous pressure on the net, scoring four goals in the first half alone.

"It's looking like a carousel out there with these rotations, and the Stallions cannot be stopped," said announcers on the NFHS Network broadcast.

On the other side, it was not until the final minute of the first half that the Seahawks were able to find a goal, falling into a daunting 10-1 halftime hole that they were unable to recover from.

Heritage-Delray went on to win 14-3.

American Heritage-Delray to face Lake Highland Prep . . . again

Since 2018, John McClain and his multiple reiterations of Stallions lacrosse have won four state championships in six tries.

Each of those wins has come against Lake Highland Prep, though the Highlanders posted one-goal upsets in 2022 (11-10) and in last year's contested thriller (6-5).

So, yes, there's a bit of history between these two programs, one might say.

The Stallions and Highlanders, ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the nation respectively, are set to go at it once again in a winner-take-all title game, with McClain hoping to add to the chalk-full trophy case against Heritage-Delray's unlikely Orlando rivals.

Last year's game was of particular interest, with McClain lamenting officiating decisions around shooting-space calls, as well as one questionable call in particular that took the would-be tying goal off the scoreboard in the final minutes after a second-half really.

At the time, McClain said he would be watching the game's film for the next six months.

It's safe to say he's ready for another crack at them on Saturday, May 9, with game time set for 5 p.m.

Alex Peterman is a high school sports reporter for The Palm Beach Post. He can be reached at apeterman@usatodayco.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: American Heritage-Delray girls lacrosse wins one-sided state semifinal