Gulliver boys and Cypress Bay girls advance to the state soccer championships
Gulliver’s boys’ soccer team knew the road back to state would be even tougher than normal this season.
The Raiders were twice under quarantine due to COVID-19 concerns.
They also had their on-field hiccups during a sub-.500 regular season.
But through it all they stuck to the mantra that first-year coach Neil Berment shared with them since the first day of tryouts.
“One team, one sound,” said junior Jack Epstein. “We built a brotherhood here. I feel like it brought us together even more. We knew we wanted to get back here and repeat as [state] champs.”
Epstein’s two second-half goals on Friday afternoon put Gulliver within one victory of that goal.
The tallies provided the Raiders with the advantage they’d need to beat visiting Orlando Bishop Moore 3-1 in a Class 4A state semifinal.
Gulliver (9-5-3) will try to win back-to-back state titles for the third time in its program’s history when it takes on either Panama City Beach Arnold or Cape Coral Mariner on Thursday at 1 p.m. in DeLand. The Raiders defeated Mariner in the final last year in double overtime.
“I came into this program not thinking about last year at all,” Berment said. “What they did last year was phenomenal and they earned that. What we did this year was new, amazing, gritty, guts, excitement, joyful, quarantined, quarantined twice and this has been a new experience for these players.”
Berment was part of everything new for Gulliver this season.
A veteran soccer coach of 26 years, Berment moved to Miami in 2018 after years serving as coach and athletic director at Washington Latin Public Charter School in Bethesda, Maryland. He took a two-year break from coaching, but took over Gulliver’s program from Chris Bart Williams before the season.
“All year this has been one team, one sound,” Berment said. “They’ve earned it and now we can think about championships. We never did during the season.”
Epstein, who has eight goals this season, is one of 13 players that returned from last year’s state championship squad.
In the 44th minute with the match tied at 1, Bishop Moore was called for a hand ball inside their 18-yard box which led to a penalty kick for Epstein. With his left foot he fired the ball into the back of the net to give Gulliver the lead for good.
Epstein then sealed the game with 1:45 left, when he controlled a loose ball 15 yards in front of the Hornets’ goal and knocked it home. Freshman Cosme Salas scored the Raiders’ first goal just two minutes and 16 seconds into the match before Bishop Moore tied it in the 16th minute on a Dylan Harkins goal.
Gulliver freshman goalkeeper Dominic Pratt made multiple key stops to preserve the lead over the final 30 minutes.
Cypress Bay girls top Douglas
Normally corner kicks in a soccer game can take time, but, with her team locked in a tie with Stoneman Douglas and just nine minutes left in regulation play, Cypress Bay’s Camila Jimenez had other ideas.
Jimenez rushed up to the ball, put it down quickly long before her teammates had a chance to set up a play and fired a shot in front of the net that teammate Barbie Garcia managed to get a piece of the ball with her head — just enough to get it past Douglas keeper Carly Brodsky. It turned out to be the game-winner as the Lightning edged Douglas 2-1 in an all-Broward County Class 7A state semifinal Friday at Cypress Bay High School.
The win sends the Lightning (8-0) to the state championship for the third year in a row and it can only hope that the third time is a charm.
In a rematch of last year’s 7A title game, Cypress Bay will take on St. Johns Bartram Trail on March 5 at 1 p.m at Spec Martin Stadium in DeLand.
“I saw Barbie running and realized that they were slow in setting up, so I just hustled to the ball and let it go,” said Jimenez, who is committed to the Alabama State Lady Hornets. “She saw me out of the corner of her eye and knew what I was doing.”
Said Garcia: “As soon as I saw Cami go to the corner, I didn’t tell anybody in the box. I just tried to yell to her to get it in, get it in and she gave me a great centering kick. I wasn’t sure if the ball had actually gone in the goal or not, but then I saw the ref raise his hand and that was it. What a great feeling because I knew there were only a few minutes left and that we’d be able to hang on.”
The Eagles pushed hard over the final eight minutes, doing everything they could to create pressure in an effort to get the game tied and force overtime, but goalkeeper Alex Jones recorded two nice saves to preserve the one-goal win.
“I yelled at Camila, ‘What are you doing?’” Cypress Bay coach Kate Dwyer said. “By the time I turned around, the ball was coming in, so they must’ve seen something and that’s what I love about these girls. We teach them everything they know tactically, but sometimes they see something on their own, will ad lib and go for it, and it paid off right there.”
After Jimenez missed an early opportunity to give her team a lead on a missed penalty kick in the fourth minute, the Lightning took a 1-0 lead in 16th, when senior captain Megan Morgan got a perfect centering pass to Natalia Ballinas that she fired home from 15 yards out.
The Eagles (9-3) tied the nine minutes before halftime when they caught the Lightning defense napping, creating a two-on-one break. Skyler Lund got the ball to Layla Segelnick who then beat Jones in a 1-on-1 break, tying the game at 1-1.
The first 30 minutes of the second half became a classic tug-of-war between two evenly matched teams.
“We knew they were going to be scrappy,” Dwyer said. “They are as feisty as can be, do not give up and we knew they were going to be scrappy. I’m super proud of Douglas and the job [coach Laura Rountree] has done in getting them back to the top again and making them relevant. Cypress Bay and Douglas had been a great rivalry over the years and it feels good to have that back again. It could’ve gone either way tonight so I’m glad it was us.”
For Douglas, it was a night of heartbreak. A team that won five consecutive state titles from 2003-07 was returning to the state semifinals for the first time in 10 years.
They had dedicated their season to Alyssa Alhadeff, who was a member of the soccer team as a freshman three years ago before she lost her life, one of the 17 victims of the horrific mass shooting at the school.
“I don’t think so,” said Rountree, when asked if perhaps the girls put a little too much pressure on themselves trying to play for their fallen teammate. “I think obviously Alyssa is always on their mind, but I think they were out there trying to do it for each other tonight. It’s been a long journey back and the girls, they have been wonderfully resilient, fighting and work extremely hard for each other and you could not have asked anything more than I got from them tonight.”
McCarthy girls return to championship
Sophomore Bella Rocco scored the game’s only goal in the 18th minute off an assist from Sophia Goetz and that proved to be enough, as Archbishop McCarthy edged North Fort Myers 1-0 in a Class 5A semifinal in Miami.
The Mavericks (18-4-1) are headed back to the state final for the third year in a row and will look to make it back-to-back state titles when they take on Ponte Vedra in the 5A girls’ soccer final on March 5 at 4 p.m. at Spec Martin Stadium in DeLand.
“I knew if we could just get the lead, that would be enough because our defense is really solid,” Rocco said. “This feels great to be going back up there and we really want to make it back-to-back titles.”
Goalkeeper Paloma Peña pitched the shutout in front of the net for the Mavericks.
“This has been a trying season for all of these teams dealing with the COVID disruption,” Archbishop McCarthy coach Mike Sica said, “but it’s been especially tough on us because we’ve had to deal with some really devastating injuries on top of everything. We lost four starters to season-ending injuries and have really had to rely on our depth and players coming in off the bench. I’m really proud of the girls.”
Gibbons girls win in PKs
Like Cypress Bay, Cardinal Gibbons is a team that is looking for the program’s first state title and has lost the last two state championship games.
And like the Lightning, the Chiefs will get a third shot at the title following Friday’s 2-1 , penalty kick shootout win over Orlando Bishop Moore in a Class 4A girls’ soccer semifinal in Fort Lauderdale.
It appeared Gibbons would win it in overtime when Deborah Bien Aime scored in the game’s 83rd minute on an assist from Madi Rivard, but the Chiefs gave up an own goal in the 87th minute and the game eventually went to PKs. After Alexis DeVeaux had played 100 minutes in front of the net at keeper, Andrea Stampone came in for the PK shootout and recorded a pair of saves as Gibbons prevailed 3-1.
“I’m extremely proud of the girls,” Cardinal Gibbons coach Margo Flack said. “We played a very talented opponent tonight and we fought for all 100 minutes. We work on PKs everyday for a reason and tonight it paid off.”
Lourdes girls stop Martin County
Coco Aguilar and Oli Borroto each scored a goal, and freshman Tessa Abreu scored twice, as defending Class 6A state champion Lourdes Academy will get a chance to win another girls’ soccer state title following an easy 4-0 victory against Stuart Martin County in a 6A state semifinal Friday at Columbus High School in Miami.
Mia Alexander pitched the shutout in front of the next for the Bobcats, who will look for the third state title in four years when they square off against Venice in the 6A title game on March 5 at 7 p.m. at Spec Martin Stadium in DeLand.
Doral boys shut out Viera
Manuel Calvo scored twice and Josh Lopes once, and keeper Giorgio Rubiano recorded the shutout in front of the net as Doral Academy boys’ soccer shut out Viera, 3-0, in a 6A state semifinal at Doral.
The Firebirds, who made it to the state finals in 2017, earned a second trip back to the state title game and will take on Niceville on the 6A final on March 6 at 7 pm. in DeLand.
Belen boys advance
Belen defeated Naples Lely High School 3-1 at de la Cruz Stadium to advance to the state final March 6 in Deland.
The Wolverines won in overtime with Alejandro Pereyra scoring the first goal and team captain Emiliano Sosa clinching the win with two goals.
“I am very proud of our athletes,” coach Tanger Mendonca said . “They’ve trained hard and worked long hours to get to this game. We look forward to playing our Jesuit brothers in Deland for the championship.”
The Wolverines will play the Jesuit High School Tigers of Tampa next. This game will pin the only two Jesuit schools in Florida against one another for the championship. The Wolverines last won the soccer state championship in 2016.
