from staugustine.com

A new school and an old feeling made it a perfect night for Dave Silverberg and the Ponte Vedra High School girls soccer team.

The Sharks used a pair of first-half goals and a stout defense to beat fellow first-year program Creekside 3-0 in the District 5-4A championship game Friday night. It was the second district title in school history for the Sharks, joining a victory by the boys golf team back in October.

The Sharks should feel pretty confident entering Thursday's state playoff opener at home against 16-5-2 Inverness Citrus. Ponte Vedra's win was its 20th of the season. To top it off, Silverberg-coached high school teams are 21-3 in postseason games, with four state championships. Creekside will visit Lecanto (18-3-2). It marks the first major team sport state playoff berth for both new programs.

"It's exciting," said Silverberg, a former coach at Nease who has now won seven of eight district championship games that he's coached in. "The girls are part of history. They've got to start the tradition somewhere. We knew we had the talent, we were just young. You just never know if young is mature enough to win the big games."

Ponte Vedra (20-3-4) had two good scoring chances early, and connected on both.

The first came off the carom of a corner kick, which Creekside did its best to clear. The Knights stopped the first two shots, but Femke Lang put the next one in the net. Jackie Hellett had the next score, taking a perfect bump pass through traffic from Courtney Jacquay and kicking it in. Hellett's goal came with just 2:44 to play in the first half, and just as the Knights seemed to have slowed down the Ponte Vedra offense.

"As a new team, there was definitely high expectations," said Ponte Vedra midfielder Jessica Stephens. "Yes, we're definitely excited."

The Knights couldn't generate any good attacks of their own, struggling to get out in front of a quick Ponte Vedra defense.

"That was what I think we needed, more movement off the ball," said Creekside coach Joe Lay. "There was about a 10-minute stretch where we played ... where we pushed them. We just have to get better legs beneath us."

Their best scoring chance came with just under 8 minutes to play in the first half -- a Monica Resto breakaway that left her one on one with Sharks goalkeeper Emily Vergo. But Vergo, with a better angle on the ball, came out to challenge and smothered the play. That was it for the Creekside offense, which seemed a step behind Ponte Vedra's defense all night.

"Our defense is unbelievable," Stephens said. "Nothing gets through them."

Jacquay added Ponte Vedra's final goal, this one set up by another corner kick, with 20:36 to play in the second half.

The loss didn't feel that bad for the Knights, who are 18-4-2 and one of the state's remaining 32 teams. Two of Creekside's losses have come to Ponte Vedra, and one apiece to Bartram Trail and Fleming Island.

"We proved to everybody we could (get to the playoffs)," said Creekside player Marissa Triassi. "Our main focus now is the playoffs ... we're really excited."