Belen Jesuit, Doral, Cypress Bay each secure trips to boys soccer state finals
For the second consecutive season, Belen Jesuit’s boys’ soccer team needed overtime to vanquish their Jesuit school counterparts from Tampa.
A year after Belen secured a state championship at Jesuit’s expense, it punched its ticket to another state final by rallying from a one goal deficit with 12 minutes remaining in regulation to beat the Tigers 3-1 on their home field in overtime in a Class 5A state semifinal on Saturday night.
The Wolverines were one of five South Florida schools - including three others from Miami-Dade County (St. Brendan, Ransom Everglades and Doral Academy) - to advance to the finals, which will be held at Spec Martin Stadium in DeLand next week. The total matches the record for most teams advancing in one season for Dade and from Dade and Broward combined.
Cypress Bay will be Broward’s lone representative.
For Belen, Alejandro Pereyra followed up his hat trick against Naples Golden Gate on Tuesday with the tying score and the go-ahead goal in the first minute of the first overtime period. Enzo Fernandez added an insurance goal in the second overtime as Belen (18-5-1) secured the opportunity to win a second consecutive state title and third since 2016.
The Wolverines will take on Panama City Beach Arnold in the 5A final next Saturday at 7:05 p.m. in DeLand.
Christian Bargueiras, Stefano Naos and Fernandez each had assists.
▪ Class 7A state semifinal - Cypress Bay 3, Palm Beach Central 0: Giancarlo Costilio led the Lightning (20-1) with a goal in the 28th minute and two second-half assists.
Cypress Bay will take on Tampa Plant at 4:05 p.m. next Saturday in the Class 7A final as it looks to win the program’s sixth state title and first since 2017.
Cypress Bay recorded its 13th shutout in the last 14 games having given up just a single goal in a district semifinal win over Western.
After Costilio got his first half goal off an assist from Jace Muser, he then assisted on a Mateo Sarmiento goal just five minutes into the second half as well as a Muser goal 11 minutes later.
“Just another really great effort by all of our players and we are looking forward to traveling north next week to try and bring home another state title for this program,” Cypress Bay coach Colin Ilgner said.
▪ Class 6A state semifinal - Doral Academy 4, Ponte Vedra 2: The Firebirds (15-2-3) will aim to win back-to-back state titles for the first time in school history when they take on first-time state finalist Viera next Saturday at 1 p.m. in DeLand. Doral showed off its potent attack once again as it has scored four or more goals in each of its past four postseason victories.
▪ Class 2A state semifinal - Fort Myers Canterbury 2, North Miami Beach Scheck Hillel 0: The Lions (11-3-2) fell behind early and couldn’t recover. It was Hillel’s first trip to the state semifinals since winning the state title in 2016.
This story was originally published February 20, 2022 at 8:00 AM.
