Ninety minutes and two overtime periods were not enough to decide the winner between defending 5A state champions St. Thomas Aquinas and the Monarch Knights (18-2-4) on Friday.

In the Regional 3-5A semifinal, the rematch from their earlier regular-season meeting went into penalty kicks. Gabriel Menescal made the game winning goal in the final round of penalty kicks to give Monarch a 2-1 (5-4 penalty kicks) win in Coconut Creek.

After both teams made their first round of goals in the penalty kicks, Alex Marsh missed on his attempt for St. Thomas (19-2) in the second round of kicks.

After both teams exchanged goals in the middle rounds; the match came down to Menescal to seal the win for Monarch in the fifth round. “I was really confident about the penalty kick,” Menescal said. “I was thinking in my mind, ‘Its do or die.’ It’s a feeling that I am going to have for the rest of my life.”

Monarch will face either Lake Worth Park Vista Community High School or Boca Raton Community High School in the regional final.

• Region 4-5A semifinal — Cypress Bay 5, Miami Beach 0: Thrown for the scare of their soccer lives nine days ago when they nearly saw their season come to an extremely premature end, the defending state champion and No. 1 nationally ranked Cypress Bay boys soccer team continued to respond to their close call.

Hosting Miami Beach in a Region 4-5A regional semifinal, the Lightning broke loose after a close first half and turned in a lopsided 5-0 win over the Hi-Tides to advance to a regional final contest next Tuesday where it will host Ferguson, a 2-0 winner over Coral Gables.

Since “surviving” a district semifinal battle with Cooper City that saw them eake out a 2-1 overtime win that was minutes from going to penalty kicks, Cypress Bay, now 20-0-2, has responded with a 9-1 win over West Broward in the district final followed by a 7-0 thumping of Miami High on Tuesday in the regional quarters and capped off by the win over Beach on Friday which adds up to a 21-1 goal differential.

“No doubt about it, it was the wake-up call we needed and the kids have responded ever since and continued to do so tonight,” said Cypress Bay coach John Ramos. “The first half was a little bit of a struggle but we made some nice adjustments at halftime and got things straightened out.”

BILL DALEY

• Region 4-3A semifinal — American Heritage 0, Pines Charter 0 (AH won by PK 4-3): A penalty kick goal by junior Ricardo Castro advanced the Patriots to the Region 4-3A Finals at Heritage Field.

“I knew my team had my back,” Castro said. “Win or lose they had my back. I know that the winner of this game is more than likely go to win states.”

Prior to the penalty shootout over 100 minutes of scoreless soccer were played. Each team’s goalkeeper had a handful of outstanding saves throughout the game and into overtime.

In the 67th minute a goal was almost scored by Pines Charter senior Chukwunecher Ihem; however, it was ruled that the crossing pass that setup the goal came from out of bounds.

In overtime the Jaguars had a potential game winning “golden goal” blocked on a leaping deflection by Patriot senior goalkeeper Juan Cano.

DARREN COLLETTE

• Region 4-2A semifinal — American Heritage-Delray 4, University School 0: University School could not overcome its sloppy play as American Heritage (Delray) eliminated the defending 3-A state champs.

“Their movement was absolutely great,” University coach Salomon Kidane said. “We were hanging with them for about 38 minutes, but couldn’t get the ball in the net.”

Walter Dawkins ripped a shot outside of the box towards the upper corner, though Suns keeper Joseph Ghitis put a hand on it, the ball burried the back of the net in the 15th minute to give the Stallions a 1-0 advantage.

Heritage took full control of the second half, scoring twice in a three minute span. A Sebastian Elney header in the 58th minute and a blast from Austin Mills in the 60th minute stretched a 3-0 deficit for the Suns.

After a tough scramble for possession inside the box, Kyle Morris tacked in a fourth goal for Heritage (21-3-2) which proved enough to be enough to seal the fate on any championship aspirations for University School (17-3-1).

IGOR MELLO

• Region 4-1A semifinal — Sagemont 0, Westminster Academy 0 (SAG win by PK 3-1): Mateo Navarro belted the ball into the left corner of the net on the game-clinching penalty kick to send his teammates rushing onto the field and send his Lions (11-6-6) to a regional final with Westminster Christian.

“I knew I could make it, and I just gave it my all,” said Navarro, who Sagemont coach Jose Tamayo calls his most dependable player. “I knew I was going to make it.”

Sagemont avenged a district finals loss to these same Westminster Academy Lions (13-5-2) with the victory. . The two evenly matched teams were 1-1-1 in their three previous meetings.

The game was inches away from being settled in regulation, but a shot on goal from Westminster Academy’s Pablo Espindola went begging wide left on the final play before the whistles blew. Westminster Academy had its fair share of opportunities but Sagemont goalkeeper Reinaldo Marquez was there for every one of them.

“He’s a guy who lives and breathes soccer,” Tamayo said. “He trains on his own, he trains with the team, he’s always willing to go that extra mile.”

Sagemont now goes from facing Westminster Academy to a date with Westminster Christian for the Regional Finals which will be played Tuesday at 7 p.m.

DAVID FURONES