Pines Charter boys soccer’s return to state ends with frustrating familiar result
For a year, Pembroke Pines Charter’s boys’ soccer team envisioned earning another chance to win a state championship.
Last season, that quest ended with the Jaguars losing in penalty kicks in the state semifinals.
On Wednesday morning, Pines Charter made it back.
But unfortunately for the Jaguars, they left with a similar frustrating feeling.
Despite putting together numerous scoring chances, Pines Charter was unable to find the mark against perennial powerhouse Tampa Jesuit and lost 1-0 in a Class 5A state semifinal at Lake Myrtle Sports Complex in Auburndale.
“This group was very eager to try and re-write the history books and get back,” Pines Charter coach Marc Lue Young said. “They’re disappointed for us to not move on. But it’s a really great group that shared a brotherhood. It’s very quiet and somber right now, but we had 80 minutes to get it done and unfortunately we couldn’t.”
The Jaguars (18-1-2) entered the state tournament unbeaten, and on a 17-game winning streak that began following back-to-back draws against Miami Beach and Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas.
But the seven-time state champion Tigers (20-2-1), who will try to add an eighth on Saturday when they face Panama City Arnold at 10 a.m. Saturday, withstood an early barrage of shots from Pines Charter.
Freshman Daniel Vidaurre, in particular, put together two great chances which Jesuit keeper Hudsyn Pears saved.
Things went south quickly to begin the second half when Pines Charter junior Noah Lewis drew a red card two minutes into the second half, forcing the Jaguars to play with 10 players for the remainder of the contest.
Jesuit capitalized roughly a minute later on a corner kick when junior Charles Dowman headed the ball past Pines keeper Mateo Valencia.
“In soccer, you can’t fall asleep for a second,” Young said. “They got a free header and from that point on it was game on.”
Despite being forced into a more defensive posture at times, Pines Charter continued to put on pressure, but again Pears was up to the task as were Jesuit’s defenders.
“We created two great chances in the first 18 minutes and one was probably the best we had all day,” Young said. “They made changes and we took our foot off the pedal. They broke us down a little bit. We still created four good chances after that, but it just wasn’t our day.”
Despite the setback, Young’s squad appears to have enough to reload for another run next season.
The Jaguars are set to graduate five starters and eight seniors overall, but 16 players are expected to return.
Pines Charter has yet to win a state title and came the closest in 2020 when it lost in the state championship game.
“Hopefully we can regroup and make another run next season,” Young said. “We just need to learn from this experience and hopefully it makes us a little wiser as far as how to manage the games.”
This story was originally published February 19, 2025 at 2:18 PM.
