Reagan boys, Coral Reef girls win GMAC soccer titles

Slowly but surely over the past three years, the Reagan boys’ soccer program has been knocking on the door as far as breaking through as one of the best programs in the county and the state.

On Friday night, in a game that featured the No. 1 and No. 3 ranked teams in the state in Class 7A, the Bison took one more step toward that plateau as they won their first GMAC championship by knocking off Coral Gables 2-0 at Columbus High School.

The win kept Reagan, ranked No. 1 in 7A, No. 4 overall in the state and No. 13 in the nation (Max Preps) perfect on the season at 16-0 while it marked the first loss for Gables, which slipped to 13-1-2.

“We’ve been building up to this,” Reagan coach Andres Vidales said. “I think we had 198 kids that initially came out for the team last fall and it was a challenge just to cut it down to 25. This is a team, first thing we had as a rule is that we need to build cohesion as a team and not just rely on one player. That’s what we’ve done and did out there again tonight. Definitely a special win for the program moving forward.”

Reagan, which will look for a fourth consecutive district title in two weeks, controlled the game most of the night. The Bison not only took the lead on a Daniel Amado goal just 13 minutes into the game, but played rock solid defense all night limiting the Cavaliers to just a few shots on goal and none that would go into the quality-chance category.

“This is a really big win for our program,” Mateo Amado said. “We’ve got a bunch of seniors on this team that have been playing together for awhile and we really feel like we’ve got a real chance to do something special and make it to states.”

Had it not been for boinking two separate shots off the goal, one by Jesus Rondon just before halftime and Daniel Lazardi early in the second half, the Bison would’ve enjoyed a bigger lead.

But then they got the insurance goal they were looking for with 23:14 left when Mateo Amado, Daniel’s twin brother, took a direct kick from the right side from 25 yards out and somehow rocketed it past Gables keeper Diego Acosta as the ball slipped right underneath a diving Acosta.

“That’s like the fourth time he’s made one of those this year,” Vidales said. “He knows how to put some kind of wicked English on the ball, and it takes a weird bounce and that’s what fooled their keeper.”

The game was called with 33 seconds left when a violent collision on front of the net between Mateo Amado and Acosta resulted in a severe leg injury to Acosta, which required assistance from fire rescue.

REEF GIRLS WIN FOURTH GMAC TITLE IN A ROW

With another GMAC championship trophy in hand, the Coral Reef girls posed proudly for cameras holding up the trophy along with four fingers in the setting sun late Friday afternoon.

The four signified their fourth consecutive GMAC championship following a 5-2 victory over Miami Springs at Coral Reef High School. The Barracudas, who became the first girls’ team to win three consecutive titles a year ago, carved their names deeper into the record books with a fourth.

“That’s pretty cool that I’ve been a part of all four of these,” said Reef senior forward Tianna Rivera, who scored two of her team’s five goals. “We’ve been struggling getting the ball in the back of the net for a while now, so it was important that we came out today and found a way to start finishing our scoring chances.”

Rivera scored in game’s third minute off an assist from Katherine Diaz before Mia Vissepo scored her first of three 15 minutes later and the Barracudas (16-2-1) appeared to be on their way to an easy win.

But Springs, despite its top player and leading scorer Gabi Cimino on the sidelines in crutches after injuring her knee in a semifinal win over Ferguson two days earlier, gamely battled back.

Just after the first half water break, Enma Amaya headed in a perfect crossing corner kick from Ashley Romay to slice the Reef lead in half, and Springs then tied it five minutes before halftime when Romay right-footed one into the top right corner of the net off a perfect crossing pass from her sister, Jasmine Romay.

Frustrated by his team’s inability to score goals over the last month despite creating so many chances, Reef coach Deano Nunez then watched his girls not only dominate the second half but actually score three more times to pull away.

Vissepo scored in the 47th and 59th minutes, both times on perfectly executed two-on-one breaks with Diaz feeding her both passes. Rivera then wrapped things up with another goal with 10 minutes left off an assist from Ashley Alfaro.

“The crazy part is we probably should’ve had seven or eight today, but I’ll definitely take the five,” Nunez said. “It really has been a grind as far as trying to find ways to get the ball in the back of the net of late, but the girls did a great job of moving the ball around today and that created our quality chances. Hopefully doing what we did out there will really get us going in the right direction with districts and regionals on the horizon.”

Reef, the No. 1 seed, will host its district tournament in two weeks against No. 4 Palmetto while Ferguson and South Dade will meet in the other semifinal.

GIRLS’ SOCCER

▪ Archbishop McCarthy 1, Lourdes 0: In a matchup between two of the top teams in South Florida, Lili Katz scored the game’s lone goal off an assist from Jordyn Pitter and made it stand up thanks to great defense and GK Isa Quintero, who recorded the shutout. McCarthy improved to 15-1-2.

▪ St Thomas Aquinas 1, Gulliver Prep 0: Payton Lees scored the game’s lone goal on an assist from Rachel Pellissery. GKs Megan Pellissery and Madi Messaingschlager combined for the shutout.

▪ Pines Charter 1, Taravella 1: PC – Leyla Molina 1 goal, Francesca Brito assist. PC: 12-2-2

BOYS’ SOCCER

▪ Ransom Everglades 4, Divine Savior 0: Joe Gross 2 goals, Danny Mendoza and Tim Sucher one goal.

▪ Westminster Christian 8, Posnack 0: Breno Goncalves 3 goals, 1 assist, Alex Brijbag 2 goals 2 assists, Christian Brijbag 1 goal, 1 assist, James Lee and Matias Gutierrez 1 assist each. Johnny Gleason/Reza Reyes combined for shutout. WC: 5-4-4

BOYS’ BASKETBALL

▪ Terra 74, Jackson 54: TER – Nelson 22, Blanco 21, Santiago 13, Sanchez 7, Vasquez 4, Martinez 2, Morales 2. Rebounds: Nelson 6. Assists: Morales 3. Steals: Blanco 4, Morales 4.

▪ Braddock 83, Somerset Silver Palms 69: BRAD – Perez 25, Chavez 23, Torres 20, Guzman 9, Paz 6. SSP – Fajardo II 27, Fajardo III 13, Benard 12, Ehlen 8, Morrel 6, Fernandez 3. Half: BRAD 35-31. BRAD 3-pointers: Torres 5, Perez 3, Chavez 2, Guzman. Rebounds: Guzman 8. Assists: Paz 6. Steals: Paz 2, Perez 2. BR: 11-7.

GIRLS’ BASKETBALL

▪ Gulliver Prep 80, Fort Myers Canterbury 31: GP – Haymore 20, Kaitlyn Sanders 20, Aguilera 18, Krysten Sanders 8, Santoro 6, Delgado 5, Lopez 3. Half: GP 55-13. GP: 12-9.

This story was originally published January 24, 2020 at 9:35 PM.