‘What a story’: The University School boys win the Class 3A soccer state championship

Having inherited a winless team when he took over the job five years ago, nobody could have appreciated the moment more than coach Thiago Oliveira.

With the sun setting, Oliveira stood on the field when the final whistle blew late Thursday afternoon watching his University School boys’ soccer team celebrate a state championship.

The Sharks had just put the finishing touches on a 3-0 shutout of Tampa Catholic in the Class 3A state championship game at Spec Martin Stadium when players took off in a wild celebration that included a trip toward the stands to join their fans.

Thursday’s win against Tampa Catholic completed a season that never saw them lose a single game, 21-0-2. Catholic finished 23-2-2.

“What a story, I don’t even know where to begin,” said Oliveira. “It’s been a long journey that took a lot of building blocks along the way. Believe it nor not and I hate to even talk about this but my very first year, after I inherited that winless team, one of our players [Corey Roberts] was first team all-county so I knew the talent was there to build, it was just a matter of being patient.”

The thing that Oliveira perhaps loved most was the start of the game. That’s when the Sharks got that dream start that every team hopes for in a big state title game — a goal.

Freshman Ethan Subachen broke free down the left side beating Catholic defenders and was met by keeper Charlie Gembarowski. He drilled a shot that Gembarowski got a hand on but Sebastian Baredes were there to knock in the rebound just 2:12 into the game.

“I knew right when I took off I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to score but knew Sebastian was right behind me and would be there if there was a rebound and that’s exactly what happened,” said Subachen. “Doing something like that [getting the early lead] was huge because defense wins championships and we’ve got a great defense.”

“Getting that early lead was so huge because there’s always nerves at the beginning of a big game like this and it really helped relax the kids a little bit,” said Oliveira. “Our opponent was very formidable, a very good team and had we not scored that first goal, who knows what would’ve happened.”

Thanks to some great saves by U. School keeper Simon Mertnoff, the Sharks got to halftime preserving that one goal lead.

Then came a quick two-goal barrage in the first eight minutes of the second half that pretty much ended the issue.

Subachen scored four minutes into the half off a great pass from Joel Castellanos and just three-and-a-half minutes later, Subachen returned the favor as he fed Castellanos a pass that he rocketed from the right side past a diving Gembarowski.

“Gimme that ring baby!!” screamed Castellanos to nobody in particular in the midst of the celebration. “All of the hard work that we put in throughout not just this season but the off season, it all paid off right now out on that field today. What an amazing feeling.”