Reigning state champion Gulliver boys’ soccer survives vs. SLAM in penalty kicks
When you win as much as Gulliver Prep’s boys’ soccer team has over the years, you understand you will get every team’s best shot.
If being South Florida’s most historically-decorated program with eight state titles isn’t enough, the Raiders are on one of their best runs ever having won a national championship a year ago and aiming for a state championship three-peat this season.
Those hopes came seconds away from being dashed Friday afternoon and later inches away in penalty kicks.
In the end, Gulliver survived when SLAM Academy’s Joseph Matamoros’ shot in the 10th round of the shootout ricocheted off the crossbar, clinching the Raiders’ 8-7 win in PKs following a 1-1 tie in regulation.
Raiders’ players stormed the field and rushed to their fans to celebrate as they once again advanced to the Region 4-3A final where they will host NSU University School at 3 p.m. on Wednesday.
“We fight to the end and we don’t give up and we try to do it with the most honor and straight forward way,” Gulliver coach Scott Davidson said. “I was proud of the effort and it was an example of fighting the whole time. I’m proud of the heart we displayed.”
A few inches lower on the final shot and SLAM Academy (14-6-3) would have been screaming and yelling on Gulliver’s home field.
The Titans wouldn’t have even been in that spot either if they had been able to hang on in regulation for 53 more seconds.
That’s how much time was left to play when Gulliver’s Nicolas Pineiros squared the game at 1 on a free kick. It gave the Raiders life after over 35 minutes of desperately trying to save their season following SLAM’s Samuel Calderon goal to break a scoreless stalemate early in the second half.
The shootout seemed never ending as both teams were sharp for the most part. Pineiros, Jorge Gouvea, Zakary Latham, Justin Merner, Jacob Lombard, Machi Grimaldi, Dante Cerrone and Bruno Ripalda all converted PKs for Gulliver.
“It was a great game, and against a tough team,” Davidson said. “They’re very physical and aggressive and we’re very young. We didn’t convert our chances early and they scored on us. We came back and should have had a few in overtime but didn’t convert. We ended up taking a million and a half PKs.
“It was certainly a fun and entertaining game. Our growth has been spectacular and I am really proud of them.”
Despite Gulliver’s pedigree as a program, this is one of the younger squads Davidson has coached during this recent run of success.
The Raiders started only three seniors in Friday’s game and graduated 15 off last season’s championship team.
“We’re everybody’s biggest game and we love it that way,” Davidson said.
