Somerset-Canyons girls soccer relishes growth among Palm Beach County's best programs

BOYNTON BEACH — In her four years at Somerset Academy Canyons, Valentina Guzman has seen the girls soccer program grow from a weak sister to a county powerhouse.

So she wasn't going to let Friday night's 2-0 loss to North Broward Prep in the District 13-4A semifinals, which ended the Cougars' 10-game unbeaten streak, ruin her day.

"I don't really feel disappointed," the senior defender said. "It's like a sweet and sour thing because I know how much this team has grown since we started, since the summer training, since the conditioning we do every single day. ... It's motivation for the next round."

Yes, there will be a next round for the Cougars (11-3-1), who are assured of an at-large bid to the state playoffs. Under the FHSAA format, the four district champions and the next four highest-ranked teams qualify from Region 4.     

Entering district play, the top three teams in the region all came from District 13 — No. 1 American Heritage-Delray, No. 2 Somerset Canyons and No. 3 North Broward Prep. All three are certain to advance to the regionals.

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In the bitter aftermath of the Cougars' first loss since November, that offered some consolation.

"We definitely could have done better," Guzman said. "But if this is the path we're supposed to take, if it's not supposed to be the district finals, then that's another route for us and we just have to keep working."

Somerset had a great opportunity in the opening minute when a hard shot by freshman Katherine Beckwith hit the post. But North Broward (13-5-1), which will play American Heritage (9-1-1) for the district title Tuesday night, controlled play for most of the first half. Only a series of saves by Somerset goalkeeper Ana Gutierrez, including a diving stop, kept the game scoreless.

Coach Oscar Narvaez attributed the Cougars' slow start to nerves — and Guzman readily agreed.

"It was the first game we played where we were just nervous," she said. "Our stomachs were hurting and we were just not there. But we know from here on out, the games are going to be tough and we just have to work through it."

The Eagles finally broke through in the 45th minute when Leah Finkelman, one of the state's top players, converted a penalty kick after the Cougars were called for a foul in the box.

Finkelman, who is committed to Penn, sealed the deal in the 65th minute when she blasted a low shot into the corner of the net. That was her 34th goal of the season, matching her school-record total from last year.

"No. 10 is an animal," Narvaez said of Finkelman. "She tore us up — two goals when it mattered in crunch time. It was tough to stop her tonight."

But Narvaez, like Guzman, prefers to look at the big picture. When he took over the program in 2020, the Cougars were coming off a 3-7-1 season, and Narvaez faced a massive rebuilding job.

After going 7-6 and 10-9-1 the next two seasons, the program took off this year with a nice blend of youth and experience. The leading goal scorers are junior Ashanti Avellaneda (15) and freshman Sephora Joachim (10); the assist leaders are sophomore Jayda Simmons (11) and junior Cameron Celce (10).

Gutierrez, who gave up only three goals during Somerset's unbeaten streak (9-0-1), is a sophomore.

Guzman provides senior leadership, along with defender Olivia Kweskin.

"They've been able to buy into the culture," Narvaez said. "They're very humble about their work. They want to come in every single day, want to really put in the effort, so the only way they make my job hard is I can't let them down."

Somerset is headed to the regionals for the first time in program history, and no one is happier than Guzman, who didn't expect to see this level of success when she was a ninth-grader.

"My freshman year, I was going to transfer," she said. "I did not like being here. I felt like we were a team that would get just slapped every time we went on the field. There was no motivation to play the game.

"I felt like I didn't have a place here, so I was going to go somewhere else."

Guzman, who has trained with Colombia's 20U team, was sidelined by a torn ACL her sophomore year. She stayed at Somerset "because my coach (Narvaez) told me he was going to turn things around."

"I didn't believe him," she said. "But my junior year, I saw the improvement. We were actually winning games, we were motivated, and this year you see the complete change. We're now a family. It feels like a collegiate-level kind of thing with the training. Over the summer, we do conditioning; over winter break, we never stop."

Guzman shared her feelings with the team during her pregame pep talk.

"Instead of telling them what I usually tell them, which is that we have to play with high intensity, I gave some words of gratitude," she said. "I told them I was grateful for the amount of effort and the amount of passion we put in, how far we've come. When I was a freshman, this was a dream to even get here — now it's a goal, an objective."

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Somerset-Canyons girls soccer relishes rise among Palm Beach County's best