Cypress Bay boys survive test, advance to regional soccer semifinals

Usually when the number one seeds meet up with the number eight seeds in the opening round of regional soccer play around the state, you get those predictably lopsided scores. Sometimes even mercy rule scores of 8-0 or worse.

But when the No. 1 seeded Cypress Bay boys soccer team took the field against No. 8 Wellington on Thursday night, there was nothing lopsided about it.

Eventually, the Lightning wound up cruising to a 5-0 victory over the Wolverines in a Region 4-7A quarterfinal at Cypress Bay High School to move on to next week’s semifinal round.

But don’t let the final score fool you.

With less than 10 minutes left in the game, Cypress Bay, armed with a No. 1 state ranking in Class 7A, No. 2 regardless of classification and No. 2 in the nation (MaxPreps), only led 2-0 and had been battling a determined, scrappy and upset-minded Wellington team all night long.

Finally, with 9:18 left in the game, Rodrigo Castrillo headed in a perfect corner kick from Lorenzo Abbiati to give the Lightning some breathing room.

The floodgates then opened when Maximiliano Gonzalez scored with 4:18 left followed by a final goal from Santiago Imperio with less than a minute remaining.

“We always realize that when this time of year arrives, you can’t really pay attention to seedings,” Cypress Bay coach Colin Ilgner said. “All these teams are usually good and those numbers next to them don’t mean much. We found that out tonight as Wellington is a very good team and gave us all we could handle. It’s a pretty good indicator of how tough our region is.”

Next up for Cypress Bay will be a Region 4-7A semifinal on Feb. 12 where they will host either No. 5 Miami Palmetto or No. 4 Parkland Douglas who will play on Friday night.

The great corner kick capped off a terrific night for Abbiati as he scored a pair of goals in the first half to stake his team to that 2-0 lead. His first one came in the game’s fourth minute thanks in large part to a long throw-in from Nazareno Sola that bounced around in front of the net before Abbiati got a foot on it and tapped it in.

The second came 16 minutes before halftime on a perfectly executed three-on-two break that saw Gerardo Galvan rocket a perfect centering pass to Abbiati from the right side that he easily knocked into the center of the net when the Wellington goalkeeper overcommitted to the left.

“We know that no matter who we’re playing against, it’s always going to be a tough match and that’s why we try and treat every game like it could be our last,” Abbiati said. “That’s what we did out there tonight. We know that anyone in regionals is going to be good no matter what and that’s the mentality we brought with us into tonight’s game.”

Asked about his team’s lofty status and the big expectations for the Lightning heading into the postseason, Abbiati said it’s all about being humble and not getting caught up in all the hype.

“Our mindset is like we may be ranked number one in the state and number two in the nation or something like that but as far as we’re concerned, we’re not anybody yet,” Abbiati said. “All of that means nothing. All of that doesn’t win you a state championship. Until the job is done and we’re hopefully holding up that trophy at state, we’re nobody.”

Abbiati and the rest of his teammates have yet to experience the thrill of a state title but Ilgner sure has. Three times in fact. He took over the program in 2015 after the Lightning had three-peated (2011-13) and immediately won a championship his first year.

He followed that up with championships in 2017 and 2022 giving Cypress Bay a total of six titles. But his team has spent the last three seasons more or less off the radar (by the program’s lofty standards) and is hoping to get the magic back this year.

“A little bit of a lull for us in recent years but we’re back this season and I think we have the team to do it,” Ilgner said. “We’ll need a little bit of luck and as always, we’ll need to stay healthy and dodge injuries as well. If everything breaks for us, we’ll have a good shot to be there in the end.”

MORE RESULTS

Region 4-7A quarterfinal - Columbus 5, Coral Glades 0: Jorge Gonzalez-Tello had two goals and one assist to lead the Explorers (14-4-5). Ezequiel Barta, Cristian Tamargo and Santiago Montoya each had one goal. Sebastian Tamargo and Nicolas Camacho each had an assist. Nick Siman had the shutout. Columbus will travel to Doral and face the Firebirds at 7 on Thursday.

Region 4-7A quarterfinals: Douglas 3, Palmetto 2; Doral 3, Coral Reef 0.

Region 4-6A quarterfinal - Miami Beach 1, Miramar Everglades 0: Valentino Levy scored the lone goal for the Hi-Tides (16-1-3) off an assist by Joaquin St. Pierre. Miami Beach will next host either Deerfield Beach or Monarch on Thursday.

Region 4-6A quarterfinals: St. Thomas Aquinas 9, Palm Beach Gardens Dwyer 1; South Broward 2, Boca Raton Olympic Heights 1; Monarch 0, Deerfield Beach 0 (Monarch wins 6-5 PK).

Region 4-5A quarterfinal - Pembroke Pines Charter 3, Coconut Creek 0: Diego Medina-Pagan had two goals to lead the Jaguars (9-5-3). Avon King had one goal and Gabriel Calderon had two assists. Izaak Durand also had one assist.

Region 4-5A quarterfinals: Archbishop McCarthy 1, Mater Academy 0; Jensen Beach 3, North Miami 2 (2OT).

Region 4-4A quarterfinal - Mater Lakes 3, TERRA 2: Liam Barzola, Sebastian Cruz and Jacob Chirinos each had a goal for the Bears (13-2-2), who will next travel to face American Heritage next Thursday.

Region 4-4A quarterfinal - Belen 4, Riviera Beach Suncoast 1: Sabastian Barrientos led the Wolverines (16-5-5) with three goals, and Andres Sosa had one goal. Andres Lopez-Gottardi, Mattias Monge, Andres Abreu and Santi Llorens had one assist each. .Julian Quijano recorded a shutout.

Region 4-4A quarterfinals: Reagan 2, Somerset Academy 1; American Heritage 1, Mourning 0.

This story was originally published February 6, 2026 at 10:19 AM.