University School can’t find the mark, drops heartbreaker in state boys’ soccer final

The scene was an all-too-familiar one when a team loses a state championship game in a penalty kick shootout.

Players strewn all over the field, lying on their backs or their stomachs, faces buried in their hands being consoled and ultimately picked up off the ground by assistant coaches.

It’s a feeling the NSU University Sharks boys soccer team did not want to have to deal with early Thursday evening.

But unfortunately a great season that saw them ranked No. 9 in the nation (Max Preps) ended just that way when, after 100 minutes of scoreless soccer, they dropped a 5-3 penalty kick shootout to Winter Park Trinity Prep in the Class 3A state championship game at Spec Martin Stadium.

It was an especially difficult moment for senior striker Rafael Guerra.

The best player in Broward County all season (35 goals), Guerra showed up in a big way, but despite numerous quality scoring chances could not find a way to get the ball past Trinity Prep goalkeeper and UCF commit Shane Wright.

But of all the chances Guerra had, the one that will haunt him the most came with 19 minutes left in regulation when he took a high pass down low in which Trinity Prep defender Mason Dowdy fell down and suddenly found himself one-on-one with Wright.

Perhaps expecting Wright to come out and meet him, the Trinity Prep keeper stayed put as Guerra approached from the right side. When he let go of the shot, it went inches to the right of the right post.

“I don’t know what happened,” said a disconsolate and emotional Guerra. “I thought the keeper would come out, when the keeper doesn’t come out, you have to make a quick decision on what you’re going to do and it just didn’t happen. I don’t even know even know what to say, this is such a difficult moment right now. We had such a great season and really felt we were going to close this out with a championship.”

The end for the Sharks came when Trinity Prep nailed all five of their PKs including the game-winner by Wright while University’s Raul Leyva went wide right with his attempt in the third frame.

“I just told my AD that when Rafael gets those chances, 10 times out of 11 he’s going to put it away and today was unfortunately that one time that it didn’t go his way,” University School coach Thiago Oliveira said. “They had to double and triple team him and he was still breaking away and creating chances. He’s just a monster and deserved to go out a champion as all these kids did.”