Creekside's Brenna Robinson named Miss Soccer; Joe Soto shares Coach of the Year honor

The heart of Creekside's iron-clad defense, Brenna Robinson was selected Friday as Florida Dairy Farmers Miss Soccer in the final round of voting by a statewide panel of girls’ high school soccer coaches and media representatives.

Robinson, a University of North Florida commit, anchored a unit that conceded just 18 goals and kept 12 clean sheets across 23 matches. The Knights went 19-3-1 this season and captured their first FHSAA girls' soccer championship.

"Oh my gosh, it's crazy. It's just so surreal," said Robinson, who found out the news via text during her television production class. "Winning this award goes to show that defenders are just as important in a game as attackers.

"I feel like defenders don't really get the recognition they deserve. When I heard I won, I was so surprised, honestly."

Additionally, Robinson provided 12 assists as the team's primary set-piece taker. Her left-footed deliveries troubled several of the state's top squads in the playoffs, most notably Bartram Trail and Lake Brantley.

The senior becomes the first Miss Soccer winner in St. Johns County history, a fairly remarkable footnote considering the area's pedigree. Nease, Ponte Vedra and Bartram Trail have combined for nine FHSAA titles.

"It's just thing after thing piling onto each other," Robinson said. "You think winning a state championship is the best it gets, and then I get nominated for (Miss Soccer) and win it. It adds so much to my senior year. There is no better way I could go out for my high school career."

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Across the tri-county area, only one other athlete has earned the distinction — Matanzas' Miracle Porter in 2017.

Robinson earned five first-place votes and 84 points in the final tally. St. Johns Country Day's Julia Boaventura (79 points) and North Fort Myers' Michelle Horan (76) secured four first-place votes apiece.

First-year head coach Joe Soto shares Coach of the Year honors with Bishop Moore's Amy Geltz, tied with 85 points and a dead-even split of four first-place votes, five second-place votes and two third-place votes.

Soto spent the previous five years as an assistant on Bartram Trail's staff, winning a pair of state championships. Creekside overcame defeats in both the regular-season finale and the District 1-7A final to topple Bartram Trail 3-2 in the second round of the playoffs.

"Once he became our coach, the whole dynamic flipped around," Robinson said. "I knew from the beginning it was going to be a really good year for us. He just showed that he cared so much about us. With everything that happened this postseason, it gave my team more and more motivation to go out and win it for him with all the hard work he's put into this team. … He deserves to win that award."

He missed two playoff contests, serving a district-issued suspension, but returned in time to patrol the sideline for the championship match — a 3-1 victory over Cypress Bay.

Soto completes a three-peat of St. Johns County winners for the Coach of the Year award. Bartram Trail's Jen Rodriguez and Ponte Vedra's Dave Silverberg went back-to-back in 2020-21.