Varela boys’ soccer’s unlikely playoff run ends with loss in Class 5A championship
Following a relatively pedestrian 8-3-3 regular season, an unlikely run through the district, regional and state playoffs came up just one goal short for the Varela boys’ soccer team early Saturday evening.
The Vipers, who finished third in their own district, were looking to capture the same magic that netted the program back-to-back state titles in 2007 and 2008 but could not overcome a two-goal first-half deficit, ultimately dropping a 2-1 decision to Lake Mary in the 5A state championship game at Spec Martin Stadium.
Varela gave up a goal off a set corner kick header from Lake Mary’s Nazar Tsaruk five minutes into the game. The Vipers seemingly spent the rest of the game battling uphill.
“We always have a saying that the first five minutes of the game are the most important and difficult ones,” said Varela head coach Juan Monge. “We had been coming out and scoring early in each of our games and getting the lead but today turned to be just the opposite. We fell behind early which is where we’re not used to being.”
Things only got worse for the Vipers. Just four minutes before halftime, Lake Mary, which won the program’s first ever state title after runnerup finishes in 1987 and 2003, scored again creating a 2-0 deficit at the break for Varela.
“I just told them (at halftime) to go out and be aggressive, maybe take a few chances and try to take over the game,” said Monge. “We were already down two goals so had to find a way to get back in it.”
They did just before the second-half water break. Christian Viera, thanks to a booming punt/kick from his keeper Andres Jaramillo and then beating Lake Mary’s lone defender back, had a one-on-one with Lake Mary keeper Michael Demarco.
Even though Demarco blocked Viera’s first shot, the rebound came right back to him and Viera knocked it in with 19:41 left.
“We’ve been practicing that play the whole season,” said Viera. “Andres got me a great deep ball and I managed to beat their defender and it was just me and the keeper.. Once I scored, I thought we were going to win it.”
The Vipers pressed hard the rest of the way and at the 10 minute mark, looked like would tie it. That’s when forward Kordell Goldson found himself alone at the top of the box with a clean shot at the goal.
Goldson rocketed a hard shot with his right foot but Demarco made a monster save, diving to his left deflecting the ball wide. That turned out to be Varela’s last good chance.
“Settling for second place is tough, these weren’t the medals we were looking for,” said Viera. “We came up here to win. The farther you go, the harder it is when you fall. Once we won regionals, we thought this was going to be magic and we were going to take it all.”