Boys high school soccer: Gainesville repeats as district champs with 2-1 win over Forest

Just 12 days removed from claiming the Alachua County Cup trophy with a 4-1 double-overtime win over Buchholz, the Gainesville Hurricanes' boys' soccer team is once again bringing hardware back to campus.

From Citizens Field on Wednesday night, the Hurricanes (14-0-1) claimed their second consecutive district title, this time in District 4-6A, with a 2-1 win over the previously unbeaten Forest Wildcats (15-1-6).

"To be honest, (the Wildcats) were better than I thought they were," said Gainesville head coach Basil Benjamin, who dedicated Wednesday's win to Wilberto Flores, a longtime local soccer coach and enthusiast, who died suddenly on Wednesday.

And if Benjamin and the top-ranked boys' soccer team in Class 6A has anything to do with it, they'll be bringing another pair of trophies back to Gainesville High School − one from the regional championship, and one from the state championship.

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But first, a look back at Gainesville's district championship-winning performance against Forest.

Gritty, not pretty, gives the Hurricanes the win

Was Wednesday night's showing the best we've seen out of Gainesville? Certainly not. But that's often the case in postseason competition.

Early in the affair, the Hurricanes had the Wildcats pinned back on their heels as Gainesville maintained possession deep into Forest's side of the pitch. Gainesville senior Brendan Foley took a handful of shots at the goal, only to come up emptyhanded.

However, instead of getting frustrated in their lack of production, the Hurricanes kept at it.

"They understand soccer is a game of mistakes," Benjamin said. "And it's not whether or not you're making mistakes, it's how you respond after the mistake. And they have an idea that we have to keep responding positively and support each other."

Gainesville's perseverance eventually paid off as senior Samuel Ponce connected on a free kick with 11:45 to play in the first half, giving the 'Canes a 1-0 lead, which it took into halftime.

Immediately out of the break, the Hurricanes added the cushion they'd need as Ponce assisted fellow senior Isaac Gugel, who notched a goal in the first two minutes of the second half.

Hurricanes' defense stiffens as Forest brings it within one

With just less than 12 minutes to play, Forest sophomore Jaime Price cut Gainesville's lead in half with a goal that slipped by the Hurricanes' keeper.

And as time continued to tick away, the Wildcats continued to press the Hurricanes.

However, Gainesville's backline, specifically its seniors center backs Colin Wycoff and Chase Olarte, kept Forest from knotting up the match.

"Usually if you win a game, it's because your midfield played well," explained Benjamin. "But we have some of the best defenders in the league. They're very hard to beat. So I'm always confident in those guys."

Running out of time, Forest pulled out all the stops late, pulling freshman goalie Garrett Smith out of the goal and sending him down the field to boost the Wildcats' offense. And Smith nearly did just that as his header opportunity narrowly missed in the final minutes of the match.

"That was an amazing header. We have to give him credit for that," Benjamin said. "You can't panic... A lot of times we just need to respond with more urgency. I try to get them into that frame of mind, but you can't panic. You just have to play."

Gainesville looks ahead to "brutal" region

Celebrating back-to-back district championships is easy until the Hurricanes realize what's still ahead of them.

When asked about advancing into the Region 1-6A playoffs, Benjamin couldn't help but grimace at the thought.

The Hurricanes, which are ranked as the fourth-best team in the state, hold the No. 1 seed in Class 6A. However, the next top three teams in Gainesville's class also compete in Region 1 in Gulf Breeze, Tallahassee Chiles and Niceville.

"You just have to go play," Benjamin said.

And Region 1 doesn't even take into account the Class 6A teams from down south in soccer-heavy area's like Fort Myers and Miami.

To Benjamin, the soccer scene down in South Florida is much like football in the Southeastern Conference.

"It's kinda like the SEC. A lot of SEC teams beat up on each other," Benjamin said. "They play in a league where everyone is so tough that you're going to get some losses sometimes that the other teams in the other leagues aren't going to get.

"Yeah, the teams from the north and the teams from Central Florida are tremendous. But from now on, it's a lot of hard teams. So you just have to go play."

Gainesville now waits to learn who they'll face on Feb. 8.

This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Boys soccer: Gritty performance lifts Gainesville over Forest in district title