Cypress Bay girls’ soccer stuns Palmetto on last-minute corner-kick goal for region title
With her back to the goal and a trip to the Class 7A semifinals on the line, Madalyn Brouse knew she had one more chance to get Cypress Bay a victory in regulation. It was the 80th and final minute of the Region 4-7A championship, and the senior had the ball near the edge of Palmetto’s box at Tropical Park with a chance to make one last play. She spun to her left and tried to find a teammate, only no one was coming. Her plans changed: She just wanted to give the Lightning one more chance at a corner kick.
She darted toward the goal and the Panthers knocked the ball out of bounds. Now Brouse, at 6-foot-2, had a new plan. Kate Dwyer told her to run to the near corner — the wind was blowing hard in Miami — and keep the ball low to try to beat Sami Anes, who was tormenting Cypress Bay with her aerial saves. Hannah Mason lined up the kick from the left corner and it went just as the Lightning planned: Brouse beat everyone to the short kick and knocked it all the way over to the far post, where it slipped past Anes to give Cypress Bay the decisive goal in its 2-1 win.
“Honestly, it’s a blackout. I didn’t even remember it,” Brouse said. “It’s surreal right now.”
A few moments later, the whistle blew. The Lightning (15-4-1) was headed back to the state semifinals for the fourth straight year.
Cypress Bay, which has been a state runner-up in each of the last three seasons, will now go on the road Friday to face Boca Raton in the 7A semifinals. The Lightning is two wins away from capturing an elusive first state title.
This Cypress Bay team has not won quite as easily as in the last few years, but the Lightning has found a recipe to victory in the final weeks of the season. After upsetting Stoneman Douglas in the 4-7A semifinals Friday, Cypress Bay followed it up with another upset Tuesday against Palmetto.
A year ago, the Lightning routed the Panthers in the region championship. This year, Palmetto (17-3-1) knotted the game at 1-1 in the 65th minute on a penalty kick by midfielder Jasyn Altcheck and Cypress Bay had to come through in the clutch to avoid extra time.
Brouse, who now has 12 goals this season, would have once seemed an unlikely source for a championship-winning goal. She hardly played last season and never had scored a goal until this year. She was a midfielder until the Lightning needed to manufacture an offense without any true striker this season. Brouse moved up, and her size has made her tough to knock off the ball and even tougher in the air.
Cypress Bay’s first goal Tuesday came from a former defender. Mason, who also delivered the game-winning assist, put the Lightning up 1-0 in the 35th minute and Cypress Bay took the lead deep into the second half as the Panthers packed in their defense and tried to find a moment to counterattack.
The penalty kick was Palmetto only shot on goal of the second half, but Anes kept the Panthers within striking distance with a spectacular performance, making more than 10 saves and snuffing out crosses by skying for lofted balls.
“This keeper is just unreal,” Dwyer said.
In the nick of time, the Lightning made an adjustment, though, and completed its latest — and most unlikely — final four run.
Cypress Bay knows it can’t take these trips for granted, either. Dwyer is well aware of the progress Palmetto is making and knows this same scenario could play out again this year.
‘We played them last year and they were all freshmen. This year, they’re all sophomores,” the Lightning coach said. “I keep telling the coach, ‘I just don’t want to see you in about two years when you’re all seniors.’”
This story was originally published February 15, 2022 at 11:26 PM.
