Lakewood Ranch boys soccer hopes to build off win over Jesuit

LAKEWOOD RANCH − At the end of the regular season, Vito Bavaro likes to schedule some of the tougher teams around the state to present challenges for his Lakewood Ranch High boys soccer team.

It also gives the veteran coach an idea of what to expect during the postseason.

This season, Bavaro and the Mustangs received a bonus match in the form of a semifinal matchup with Tampa Jesuit in the Tampa Bay Invitational.

Lakewood Ranch not only passed the test, but also gave Bavaro a glimpse of his team’s potential.

The Mustangs defeated Jesuit, 1-0, on an early goal by Diego Freyre, an air-tight defense led by goalie Noah Rueping and a little luck, which never hurts when facing such a quality opponent.

The Tigers came into the match unbeaten in 12 matches, ranked first in the state and second in the country by MaxPreps and fifth in the state in the FHSAA power rankings.

“We were going in there like it was the final of the World Cup, like it was do or die,” Freyre said.

Facing the Tigers

Lakewood Ranch advanced to the second round of the tournament by outlasting Palmetto in penalty kicks. After the teams were deadlocked at 2-all after regulation, the Mustangs made all five of their penalty kick attempts, while the Tigers made four of five.

Having beaten Bloomingdale, 1-0, in their first round game, the Tigers entered 12-0 and outscoring their opponents, 43-4.

Jesuit also came into the match 8-1-2 against Lakewood Ranch with the lone win coming in overtime in the 2011 regional semifinals, a year the Mustangs reached the regional final before losing to eventual state champion Cape Coral.

Freyre could sense of confidence across the field prior to the match.

“As soon as we saw them warming up like we are going to win this, we’re like OK that’s kind of disrespecting the other team,” he said.

It gave the senior a little more incentive.

“Let’s show them why we’re here,” Freyre said. “That was our mentality.”

In the first half prior to the first water break, Freyre took a cross from the left side and deposited the ball into the far corner of the net to give the Mustangs a 1-0 lead.

“He came across so fast. It was like a white cloud,” Bavaro said. “Boom, right into the net.”

The Mustangs knew they could not rest on their laurels.

“After that we kept control of the game,” Freyre said. “When the second half started we knew Jesuit was going to come and press us for the rest of the game. Then we had to hold them off.”

Jesuit hit a couple of balls off the posts and shot a few just over the net, but when the referee blew his whistle three times to signal final time, Freyre’s goal stood.

“It was amazing,” he said. “That was my first time beating Jesuit since I played here, so it was definitely big. Thank God we could hold out the rest of the game.”

And Bavaro discovered something about his team.

“We took that game into what we were saying this is a really good barometer of how far we are going to go,” he said. “When you play a team like this, if we beat them we know we can go pretty far. If we can tie them, we know we can go pretty far. If we lose by one goal, we know we can go pretty far. They’ve got great players.

“I learned, man, when they want to play, they can play.”

Laying an egg the next night

The euphoria surrounding the win and the Mustangs’ program was shattered less than 24 hours later.

Lakewood Ranch gave up a soft goal early and fell to Gulf Breeze, 3-2, in the tournament final.

“And then we have brain farts like last game, where we have a ball bounce over three guys’ heads in the first 18 seconds,” Bavaro said.

The Mustangs fought back with two second-half goals from Gabriel Hodge, but it was not enough to overcome the early miscue.

“It was kind of a letdown,” Freyre said. “The mentality was like we already beat Jesuit, so let’s kind of relax. As an athlete and a player you can’t afford to. You can’t afford to relax in the final. But it happens, and we’ll learn what happened over the weeks. Hopefully, we can regroup.”

A rematch looms

Lakewood Ranch will make the return trip to Tampa for a regular-season match with Jesuit at 7 p.m. Thursday.

Let’s just say Tigers coach Eric Sims was looking forward to the rematch as early as Saturday night.

“Coach grabbed my hand after the game and said, ‘I’ll see you next week.’ They’re gonna be coming for us,” Bavaro said. “It’ll be a monster game.”

By the way, Jesuit lost its third-place tournament match to Mitchell, 4-1,

After losing 3-2 to Wiregrass Ranch (12-3) on the road Tuesday evening and Jesuit, the Mustangs close the regular season with Mitchell (8-3-4) and Cypress Creek (7-3).

Bavaro is hoping those matches provide the preparation Lakewood Ranch needs to make a strong run in the postseason.

After an early hiccup at North Port and three straight draws followed by a loss to Newsome, the Mustangs are hoping to get a top two seed in their district tournament with Gulf Coast the toughest opposition in Class 7A-District 8.

“Once we all have our heads together and realize it’s the second half of the season and we have to get serious now,” Freyre said. “We could go wherever we put our mind to, as far as we really want to.”

Practice makes perfect

At practice Bavaro quotes lines from the movie “Animal House” a film most of his players had not viewed.

The point is Bavaro wants his players to practice as hard as they play.

And when they did not, the players ran the length of the field three times around the goalposts.

“Sometimes we make stupid, little mistakes,” Bavaro said. “If I can get the stupid little things out of the way, we can have a shot at having a run at it.”

The Mustangs have reached one boys state soccer final, advancing in 2017 when they lost to Cypress Bay, 1-0.

“It’s just the mental part of it for them. If I can get them prepared and ready to go,” said Bavaro, who welcomed a number of new players to his program this season. “We’ve got to come out and play everybody hard, play everybody like we played Jesuit and not make mistakes. I always expected more than they can give me.

“Focus right now is districts.”

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Lakewood Ranch boys soccer defeats No. 1 team in state, No. 2 in country