Saint Thomas Aquinas Wins the 2026 Florida High School Men’s Water Polo State Championship

On April 25th, 2026, a blistering sunny Saturday in Miami it was once again at Belen Jesuit Preparatory School that the Florida high school state championship would be decided. A massive clash between the two top ranked teams of this year’s Florida high school water polo scene, the #1-ranked Ransom Everglades and #2-ranked Saint Thomas Aquinas High School, was long in the making. The two sides had seen each other throughout the season three previous times with all three matches going in the favor of Ransom Everglades, the first at the annual Ian Supra Memorial Tournament in Orlando where the Miami-based Ransom Raiders would defeat the Broward-based Raiders 11-8, then two more overtime clashes would see Ransom win by scores of 16-15 and 12-11.

However, the paths both teams took to arrive at the final game was arduous on both sides. Saint Thomas Aquinas would see a massive test the week prior playing against regional rival in Miami Country Day for a fourth straight year, a game that truly pushed STA to the limit but prevailed by a score of 10-9, they would follow up that win with a victory over the #3-ranked team in the state Seminole High School in the state semifinal with a score of 13-10 behind a monster game of junior goalkeeper, Marcell Varhalmi, who posted 18 saves, 3 steals, an assist and a goal. Ransom’s path to the final on April 25th was a gauntlet through the Miami region, a semifinal crossover against Gulliver pushed the top-ranked Ransom Raiders into an overtime victory 14-13 followed up by a regional final win over Columbus High School 11-8, they would crossover in the semifinal against the reigning state champions, the Westminster Academy Lions, who gave Ransom a heck of a game where Ransom dug deep and outlasted the battle tested Lions by an overtime victory 13-12.

With both teams the Raiders teams having familiarized with each other over the three prior clashes in the season, the championship game at 3 PM became one of the most anticipated finals in recent memory drawing fans from all across the state including many of our current and former South Florida Water Polo Club athletes who came to cheer on their compatriots playing for Saint Thomas Aquinas.

The clash started in the favor of Ransom when one of their top players would find space on the right-hand side of the pool and manage to sneak a lob shot past the Marcell Varhalmi in the goal to give Ransom an early lead, however, a rebounded shot would fall in front of a hustling Matthew Lapin who in turn would pick up the ball before being swamped by several Ransom defenders to draw the penalty, the penalty shot would converted by Senior and University of Pacific commit, Sam Eastaugh, on a quick sharp skip to the goalkeeper’s left side to tie the game at 1-1. A defensive breakdown from STA would allow Ransom to re-establish the lead immediately, however, the very following possession, Senior Lev Konnikov would draw an exclusion against Ransom, the STA power play resulted in a shot that clanged off the crossbar, however, great hustle from Senior John Corbett proved critical as he was able to retrieve the ball and continue the STA attack which would find Holden Harkins, a senior and Florida International University signee to play football as the long snapper, Holden would bury a powerful skip shot from the right hand side of the pool to ensure the game remained level at 2-2. It would be only a minute later that Sam Eastaugh would create an advantage on the left side of the pool on the fastbreak, receiving the ball from the goalkeeper he would cut middle with the ball hard to draw defenders before flicking a beautiful ball over the defense to Senior Tommasso Leonardi who would promptly convert a beautifully placed lob to give Saint Thomas Aquinas a one-goal lead. However, that lead would be quickly squashed when a post up from Ransom’s left-handed attacker would end up with a strong turn and a conversion into the STA net to tie the game at 3-3. The goal fest would only continue as Saint Thomas would take the lead right back, a strong shot from John Corbett would force the Ransom goalkeeper to block the ball back into play where Lev Konnikov was the first to act from the center position, with a defender pulling him down Lev would manage to recover the ball spin off hard and finish a strong rebound to reclaim the lead for STA that it would not relinquish for the rest of the game. The second quarter started fast and furious, with both teams jumping on fastbreaks trying to claim the first goal, however, several strong stops in the STA goal by Marcell Varhalmi would give STA the opportunity when Lev Konnikov would find Sam Eastaugh in favorable position posting up, a good entry pass resulted in a big step out from Sam who would convert to bring the score to 5-3 in favor of the Broward-based team. The two-goal lead would be shortly lived as Ransom would find one of the premier shooters open in a position where he fired home the ball past the Saint Thomas blocks. However, STA would not see its lead diminished so easily, the very following possession involved a patient attack where Holden Harkins would find an open John Corbett on the left-hand side of the pool where John would promptly receive the ball and fire a gorgeous shot over the arms of the outstretched Ransom goalkeeper who tried to fly across the goal to stop the shot, but STA would rebuilt its lead to 6-4. STA would build onto a 7-4 lead after a fantastic save by Marcell Varhalmi to stymie the Ransom power play would find Sam Eastaugh and Lev Konnikov on the fastbreak, a good connection of timing between the two would see Sam lead Lev with a pass that allowed him to draw a penalty, Sam Eastaugh would step up and slot the penalty with a powerful quick skip shot to the goalkeeper’s left side to complete his hat-trick in the first half. A period of several minutes would see the physicality between the two teams escalate, however, nothing would come too far with it, however, it would be Ransom who replied on the score tally, converting two more goals to claw back the score to 7-6 in favor of STA. However, when needed most it would be once again Marcell coming up with massive saves and once again, he would find Sam Eastaugh, leaking out on the fastbreak behind Ransom’s defense, a well-placed pass would allow Sam to convert the finish to rebuild to 8-6 lead on his fourth goal of the game. However, it was Ransom who would have the final word of the second quarter as one of the right-handers would bury a beautiful shot into the top corner of the goal to ensure that the game remained a one-goal contest head into half-time.

The third quarter was where STA would stamp their seal on the game, a third quarter that would see Sam Eastaugh convert a goal for his fifth of the game, Holden Harkins convert two stunning skip shots to complete his hat-trick, sophomore Matthew Lapin would convert his first of the game and Lev Konnikov would blast home his second goal of the game on a powerful move out of center between three defenders, STA would at one point build a six-goal lead with a 13-7 scoreline, Ransom would manage to tally only one goal meaning that the fourth quarter would begin with STA taking a 13-8 scoreline into the fourth quarter. There began the cat-and-mouse game of running down the clock until the end, Ransom would convert four goals to draw to within one-goal, however, with time running out and chances low, STA would keep the ball safe until with just a second on the clock, Lev Konnikov, would fire home the final dagger on a full court skip shot to cement the 14-12 scoreline that allowed the Saint Thomas Aquinas Raiders the deserved chance at the greatest “Gatorade” bath in all of sports as players and coaches alike all got to jump in the pool to celebrate an incredible season with a 26-4 record.

The long season ends with several momentous legacies finishing for several athletes and a certain legendary head coach at Saint Thomas Aquinas. Five of the athletes in the water were also a part of the 2023 Saint Thomas Aquinas State Championship Team, those athletes being: John Corbett (Sr.), Lev Konnikov (Sr.), Tommasso Leonardi (Sr.), Holden Harkins (Sr.) and Sam Eastaugh (Sr.), the five athletes will leave behind a legacy of ultimate winning as two-time state champions and leaders of the most successful period in the program’s history based on a standard and culture of hard work, camaraderie and trust in one another.

The victory also comes as a moment of celebration for program head coach Michael Goldenberg, a legend in the water polo world, who spent the past 20 years as the captain of the Saint Thomas Aquinas Men’s Water Polo ship where his drive and standard of excellence was unmatched by any, in 19 of his 20 years in charge the men’s program saw the State Championship tournament and on three instances it saw him crowned along with his teams, first in 2013, the second championship in 2023 and the third and final is this one, 2026.

We are proud here at South Florida Water Polo Club to say that these athletes and the coaching staff is our very own and that these very moments are brought on by the intensity and desire of our coaching staff and the unrelenting work ethic of the athletes who come to compete at our club day in and day out.

Way to go STA and way to go to all of our athletes and Coach Michael on his incredible sendoff!