Cypress Bay girls top Goleman, resume quest for elusive state soccer title
There was very little drama when the Weston Cypress Bay girls’ soccer team took the field on Thursday afternoon. And there wasn’t supposed to be.
For the fourth straight season, the Lightning enter the Class 7A regional playoffs as the No. 1 seed in Region 4, and they did exactly what No. 1 seeds are supposed to do to a No. 8 seed in the opening round – win by a lot.
After battling through a lackluster first half, Cypress Bay opened things up in the second half and easily took care of its business by cruising to a 7-0 victory at home over Hialeah Goleman.
Ranked No. 2 in the state in Class 7A and No. 8 overall regardless of classification, the Lightning led the Gators just 2-0 at the half. This against a team they had beaten by a combined score of 17-0 in a regular season contest and the district championship last week.
But, led by Sabrina Bermudez who was the only player to score multiple goals, Cypress Bay blew things open in the second half by scoring five times and not allowing Goleman a single shot on goal the entire game.
With that, head coach Kate Dwyer and her Lightning players, ranked No. 2 in the state in Class 7A and No. 8 overall regardless of classification, are off on another journey of chasing their Holy Grail – that very much-elusive state championship.
But, when asked about the big-picture goal of a state title, Dwyer did what almost every coach does early on the playoffs. She deflected that big-picture goal and remained focused on the little picture, that being the next opponent.
Cypress Bay will host No. 4 seed Parkland Douglas in a Region 4-7A semifinal on Feb 11 at 5 p.m. after Douglas knocked off No. 5 Doral Academy 3-0 in the opposite quarterfinal.
“As much as we would like to finally reach the summit and get the state title, you simply can’t worry about that right now,” Dwyer said. “I always drill into my players that you have to stay focused on what’s right in front of you. If you worry too much about the big picture and not the little one, you’ll never see the big one. Next up is Douglas and if we worry about winning a state title, we might not get past that game and that will take care of that.”
It’s been a highly successful career for Dwyer running the Cypress Bay girls’ program for the past two decades. But it has also been agonizingly frustrating as well.
Cypress Bay made it to the state championship game for four consecutive years from 2019 to 2022. But they became the “Buffalo Bills” of high school girls soccer, becoming the first team in Florida to lose four in a row.
After falling to St. Johns Bartram Trail in a state semifinal in 2023 followed by a regional final loss to Douglas in 2024, Cypress Bay returned to the state final a year ago. Following a semifinal win over Jupiter, once again more frustration followed as the Lightning dropped a 2-0 decision to Lake Mary and was forced to settle for runner-up medals for the fifth time in a seven-season span.
With that loss, Cypress Bay also made it into the record books, tying Boca Raton for the most all-time runner-up finishes by a girls soccer team without winning a state title, one ahead of Daytona Beach Seabreeze which has four.
Can this year be different? Way too early to tell. Dwyer’s teams from past years were good enough to take it all but for various assorted reasons, it simply didn’t happen.
“We actually lost quite a few players from last year, but a lot of those were actually non-starters,” Dwyer said. “While we have many starters back, a lot of them are playing at new positions, and we’re doing a lot better this season than any of us anticipated. The girls have really come together and clicked. They just love spending time together so the chemistry has really worked.
“We definitely feel we’re in a position to make another run, but it’s not going to be easy. It never is because there are plenty of really good teams with Palmetto, Douglas and Wellington, all quality teams. It will prepare us to get there (state final four) but it’s also a harder route to get there.”
Cypress Bay senior and co-captain Mackenzie Rector has been around to experience some of the painful losses but remains optimistic that perhaps this year might be different.
“Sure what happened last year against Lake Mary and the fact that we’ve never won state is in the back of our minds but what we really are focused on right now and where our priority has to be is each opponent that’s in front of us each week,” said Rector who leads the team with 15 goals. “This team, we’re literally a family and I think everyone can see that out on the field. I think that’s why we’ve been so successful this year. We’re connecting and really close. Not only on the field but off the field as well.”
Before the game, Dwyer did what she has been doing for a number of years now at the start of the postseason. Armed with a black marker, she writes the number “5” on the back of their hand. It signifies the number of games they need to win to accomplish that goal of winning a state title. That number will turn to 4 next week preceding the Douglas game and one that she can only hope will get smaller and smaller.
“Who knows, maybe I’ll finally be able to write that 0 on each of their hands,” Dwyer said. “I’ve kind of gotten past that stage now of trying to ‘get over that elusive hump.’ If we’re fortunate enough to get all the way there again and lose, what am I going to do about it? We’re going to go back and keep building this thing up and try again next year. We’ll keep fighting. If it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be.”
MORE RESULTS
Region 4-7A quarterfinal - Douglas 3, Doral 0: Audrey Haltiwanger led the Eagles (9-6-2) with two goals. Isabella Bayari had one goal. Breanna Gordon, Alison Ofstein and Alexa Jourdan each had an assist. Sabrina Cernech recorded the shutout and had five saves.
Region 4-7A quarterfinals - Wellington 2, Coral Reef 0; Palmetto 2, Boca Raton Spanish River 1: Palmetto will travel to Spanish River on Wednesday at 6.
Region 4-6A quarterfinal - St. Thomas Aquinas 8, Miami Beach 0: Madison McKeon three goals and one assist. Lauryn Smith had two goals. Marissa Arellano had one goal and two assists and Marisa Robinson had one goal and one assist. The Raiders (19-2-1) will host West Boca Raton on Wednesday at 7.
Region 4-6A quarterfinals - Cooper City 6, South Plantation 1; West Boca 4, Flanagan 1; Stuart Martin County 7, Fort Lauderdale 0
Region 4-5A quarterfinal - Lourdes 9, Hollywood Hills 0: Veronica Aguilar had five goals and one assist for the Bobcats (13-3), and Gianna Gray had three goals. Valentina Kalka had one goal and one assist. Nicole Lee had three assists. Lorena Alvarez had two assists. Cecilia Rodrigue had one assist. Lourdes will next host Stuart Martin County at 4 at Kendall Soccer Park on Wednesday.
Region 4-5A quarterfinal - Pembroke Pines Charter 8, Jensen Beach 0: Madison Connacher had three goals to lead the Jaguars. Amanda Fernandez had two goals. Catalina Castro had one goal and three assists. Madison Casanova had five saves and the shutout. Pines Charter (13-2-2) will travel to face Archbishop McCarthy next Wednesday at 4.
Region 4-5A quarterfinal - Archbishop McCarthy 8, Varela 0
Region 4-4A quarterfinal - American Heritage 6, Riviera Beach Suncoast 0: Ariana Doles and Mia Sommers each had one goal and two assists to lead the Patriots (14-0-1), who will next host Mater Lakes on Wednesday.
Region 4-4A quarterfinal - Mater Lakes 1, TERRA 0: Julianna Redondo scored the lone goal for the Bears and Kaylee Younes had the assist. Ana Usman had the shutout and five saves.
Region 4-4A quarterfinal - Somerset Academy 7, Key West 1: Ella Provost-Heron led the Panthers (11-11-1) with four goals and two assists. Mariana Falla had one goal and one assist. Somerset hosts St. Brendan on Wednesday at 3:30.
Region 4-4A quarterfinal - St. Brendan 8, Mourning 0: Penelope Rincon and Emily Perez each had three goals and one assist to lead the Sabres (7-8-2). Chloe Bravo had one goal and two assists.
This story was originally published February 6, 2026 at 8:24 AM.