The Boca Raton men's soccer team remained undefeated, but forced overtime and defeated a stubborn Windermere squad 4-3 (5-4 penalties) on Thursday night at Spec Martin Stadium in DeLand. The match ended in a penalty shootout.
Boca Raton (23-0-2) erased a 2-0 lead in the second half, was down two players due to blue cards and had to play the final 10 minutes of regulation time, including 20 minutes of overtime. There were two fewer people.
Windermere (16-2-1) then took a 3-2 lead in the first overtime on a goal by Enzo Valiante, but the Bobcats scored early in the second overtime after a defender called Rafael.・Azevedo's penalty goal tied the game. Windermere goalkeeper Alan Gesualdo illegally touched the ball after setting it up for a goal kick.
Boca Raton nearly won on a short shot by Cristian Gonzalez with 10 seconds left in overtime, but Gesualdo made a clutch save in traffic and the Marlins won.
In the penalty shootout, Gesualdo dove to his right and saved the first penalty shootout from the Bobcats' Rafa Azevedo, before the next five shooters (Gonzalez, Jaden Trautman, Diego Azevedo, Felipe Magajáes, Giovanni Torchia) scored to give Boca Raton a point. win.
Windermere's first penalty shot and sixth shot went over the goal.
Boca Raton coach Marcelo Castillo said his team had a goal to win the state championship early in the season.
“But today we managed to do it. It was unbelievable and it doesn't take anything away from the win,” Castillo said.
“I'm so proud of these boys. They could have easily folded,” he added. “Nearly 30 minutes of nine against 11 against another regional champion. They could have made all kinds of excuses, but they listened to me, sat down and did what I asked tactically. And to be fair, we almost won in the last seconds of overtime.”
Boca Raton will play West Orange (14-4-1) for the 7A title on Saturday at 7 p.m. This will be the school's fifth boys championship, with 2020 being the last.
The Bobcats took a 2-0 lead on a goal by Brian Silva in the 13th minute, and in the 55th minute, Samuel Holzhacker took a long-range shot that bounced off the hands of Windermere goalie Alan. Gesualdo spilled and Arredondo scored from 10 yards out.
Then Boca Raton was hit by some bad luck. Just before the second hydration break, the Bobcats were called for a penalty kick, and the Wolverines cut the lead in half with Jose Moetons scoring. Boca Raton also lost its first player to a blue card for a foul.
In the 71st minute, Windermere tied the game at 2-2 with Moyetones' 20-yard free kick goal, and the Bobcats lost their second man to another blue card, leaving the team down by two players for nearly 30 minutes. Ta. Boca Raton junior goalie Carmine Ricciardi made several key saves to keep the Bobcats going against the Wolverines, who are ranked No. 3 in the state and No. 22 in the nation in Class 7A.
The Bobcats will be in their seventh state championship game, having won four times (1990, 2010, 2016, 2020). We lost in 2009 and 2014.
South Broward holds off Valico in Class 6A semifinals.
South Broward boys soccer coach Lionel Brown had a tough experience in his last trip, the only one to advance to the state final four, when he led the game late and lost in overtime.
In 2020, the Browns Bulldogs faced Niceville in the Class 6A title game and were up 3-2 with 19 minutes left, but gave up a goal six minutes later and lost 7-3 in double overtime. .
The Bulldogs (19-1-3) defeated Valico Bloomingdale 3-2 in the Class 6A state semifinals late Wednesday afternoon and will face defending state champion Viera, who defeated Niceville, Saturday at 1 p.m. He hopes his second time will be more attractive in order to advance to the ship race. In the other semi-final.
Dominic Tianich scored from a corner kick by Lucas Costa in the 24th minute to give the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead. Costa provided the assist for his second goal in the 31st minute when his cross was met by William Perdomo, who beat two defenders and slotted the ball past Valico goalkeeper and Bloomingdale keeper Zane Haidock for two. They led by -0.
“Early on, I thought our players needed to set the tempo of the game,” Brown said. “We did that in the first five or six minutes and got a feel for them. We like to keep the ball, move the ball up the field and lock them in their own half, so they're more We found that we had a defensive structure and that worked to our advantage.
“We were able to take advantage of it early on,” Brown added. “We knew from the few games we watched where they would be vulnerable. In a big game like this, the most dangerous thing is to lead 2-0. We will weather the storm and move forward. From the beginning of the season, I had a lot of confidence in this group.”
Valico cut the lead to 2-1 in the 44th minute when Brock Warren beat South Broward keeper Ivan Fernandez. South Broward responded quickly in the 51st minute with a counterattack after Valico's corner kick. Costa fired a shot from the right side, and Aldrin Ortiz chipped it over the outstretched arm of Haidock and just under the bar for a 3-1 lead.
Valico wasn't going to go down without a fight when Kyle Plante converted a 40-yard free kick from Giovanni Morales in the 74th minute to give the Bulls a 3-2 lead. Haydock almost equalized with 30 seconds left in the game, but his header from a corner kick narrowly missed the target and joined the attack.
Pembroke Pines Charter lost in the 5A state semifinals.
After 80 minutes of regulation and 20 minutes of overtime, the Pembroke Pines Charters boys soccer team and the No. 2 nationally ranked Panama City Beach Arnold team were scoreless in the Class 5A state semifinals.
Pembroke Pines Charter goalie Massimo López-Maro, who had to make 11 saves during the contest, was replaced in the shootout by fellow Jaguars goalie Ryan Romero. Pembroke Pines Charter coach Mark Lou Young said the move to include Romero in the penalty kick game was something he and his coaching staff had been planning for several weeks.
Arnold scored on all four of his penalty kicks, and after Pembroke Pines Charters' Mateo Cortez and Gabriel Calderon converted the Jaguars' first two shots, Marlins goaltender Josh Chandler hit Matthew Black. Wood and Nicholas Prandini made two diving stops on the next two attempts to force Arnold. They will face Tampa Jesuit in Friday night's title game.
“It was a tough loss,” Pembroke Pines Charter coach Mark Lou Young said. The team reached the Class 5A state finals in 2020, losing 5-4 to Tampa Jesuit. “The game was a very evenly matched game throughout, with great chances for both teams to score. Both keepers were exceptional.
“Unfortunately, we couldn't convert the chances we created. We continued to create chances in overtime, but you never want them to turn into penalties,” added Lou Young. “We played the No. 2 team in the state and we knew they had never played a team like us. We knew we could take the game home, so we did that. But it was a disappointing result for us.”