Krop boys soccer continues to impress. Its latest feat: Knocking out Cypress Bay
Krop’s Tiago Pillado-Matheu took his position, ready to take a second-half corner kick in a scoreless regional semifinal against Cypress Bay on Friday night.
The wind was in his favor, whipping straight toward the Cypress Bay net as he took two steps back.
With a perfect strike, and just enough aid from Mother Nature, Pillado-Matheu’s cross blew straight into the upper left portion of the net for the lone goal of the game. Teammates mobbed Pillado-Matheu on the sideline as he attempted to hype up the crowd as Traz Powell Stadium.
Twenty-five minutes later, after fighting off a frenzy of Cypress Bay scoring chances, the result became official: Krop defeated Cypress Bay 1-0 and advanced to the Class 5A regional finals.
The victory was two-fold. It gave Krop its second regional final berth in program history and first since 2007. It also ended Cypress Bay’s run of nine consecutive trips to the regional finals, a streak that included four state titles in that span.
“I told everybody before that we were going to surprise everybody,” Krop coach Tomas Gonzalez said as his players celebrated on the field around him.
And they continue to do just that. Krop is 13-1-3 on the year, its lone defeat coming on Nov. 19 to MAST Academy in its third match of the year. Since that loss, Krop has outscored opponents 47-3 and has not allowed any team to score more than one goal in a given game.
Their next task: A regional final against Varela, which won its first two regional contests 2-0 against Coral Gables and 5-2 against Coral Reef in overtime.
▪ Region 4-4A semifinal - St. Thomas Aquinas 1, Reagan 0: The Raiders, thanks to an early goal off a perfect set piece corner kick, hung on to defeat Ronald Reagan 1-0 at Milander Stadium.
Not only did the win keep the Raiders unbeaten (21-0-4) but it means they are now into the regional final round for the first time since 2011, a year they won their last of five state titles under legendary coach Jobie Hughes.
Aquinas will host Fort Lauderdale in the Region 4-4A final on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Brian Piccolo Stadium with a berth in the state final four on the line.
The lone goal for the Raiders came in the 10th minute off a set piece when Spencer Mallion sent a perfect corner kick to the back post and Ian Tomancik was there to head it in the top left corner of the net.
▪ Region 4-3A semifinal - Plantation American Heritage 3, Pembroke Pines Charter 0: Ryan McGowan, Morris Senior and Miles Walter each scored goals to advance the Patriots to the regional finals. They will travel to face Cape Coral’s Mariner.
▪ Region 4-2A semifinal - University School 7, King’s Academy 0: Joel Castellanos was an offensive phenom, scoring five goals in the Sharks’ win. Simon Mertnoff recorded his 13th shutout of the year, as well.
▪ Region 4-2A semifinal - LaSalle 2, Mater Lakes 0: Eugenio Elizondo Villareal and Enrique Mejia each scored goals to advance LaSalle to the regional finals for a third consecutive year. Mater Lakes, meanwhile, saw a breakthrough season that included the school’s first district title and second all-time win in a regional come to an end.
▪ Region 4-1A semifinal - Palmer Trinity 1, SLAM Academy 0: Defending Class 1A state champion Palmer Trinity lives to see another day, pulling ahead of SLAM on a second-half goal.
▪ Region 4-1A semifinal - Scheck Hillel 1, Miami Country Day 0: After missing out on the state series all together last year, Hillel has advanced to the regional finals for the fourth time in program history. As an aside: The Lions are a perfect 3-0 in regional final play.
This story was originally published February 10, 2019 at 10:14 AM.
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