Palmetto girls’ soccer advances to region semis; wrestling districts begin Wednesday
It took nearly four hours to get it in, but somehow, despite an afternoon dealing with the wrath of Mother Nature, the Palmetto girls’ soccer team managed to slosh its way to victory.
The Panthers hosted Miami High in a Region 4-7A quarterfinal matchup at Tropical Park and, thanks to three quick goals in the first 10 minutes before the weather deteriorated, defeated the Stingarees 4-0.
Palmetto advances to a Region 4-7A semifinal on Friday and will host either Coral Gables or South Dade at 2:30 p.m. at Tropical.
The game started nearly two hours late and turned into a water-fest in the game’s 11th minute as monsoon-like conditions deluged the field.
Just eight minutes until halftime in which the game could’ve been declared official, another lightning delay shut the contest down for another hour.
“I think Mother Nature might’ve been the real winner today,” said first-year Palmetto coach Alex Castro. “A real tough day with the weather, but I think the girls did a good job of fighting through everything and were able to go out and execute when they finally got the chance to play, and now we’re moving on so it’s all good.”
Sophomore Jasyn Altcheck scored on a header off an assist from junior Angie Gonsalves just four minutes into the game. Altcheck again scored, taking a nice cross from freshman Catherine Green. Senior Isabella Stoffle added a goal with the assist to freshman Kyara Ormazabal for a 3-0 lead with 30:20 left in the half.
Then came the relentless deluge in which Palmetto still managed to score once more, a goal from senior Esmeralda Moran off another assist from Green.
“It was definitely kind of stressful dealing with all the weather issues for sure; so we’re just glad we managed to reach the finish line even though it was only one half,” said Altcheck. “It was important for us to get as many early goals as possible because we didn’t know how long we were going to be playing. I’m just glad I was able to contribute to the win. Now we want to try and win on Friday and keep this going.”
Once the teams returned to the field after the second delay, they completed the final eight minutes of the half, and then the game was officially called with more bad weather on the way. Keeper Lucia Traverso, playing her second game, recorded the shutout.
Castro said: “This has been a tough year for all of us but especially these girls. With all of the COVID issues, I’m proud of the way they’ve dealt with everything. Here they were [Tuesday] playing this game and their parents were not even allowed to come and watch; so that’s a tough thing. We think we can keep winning and moving on.”
Multiple games postponed
Bad weather wreaked havoc on outdoor sporting events on Tuesday and two girls’ soccer regional playoff games that got postponed were South Dade/Coral Gables and Key West/Miami Springs. Both will be played Wednesday.
Wrestling
The wrestling district tournaments are this week, and Somerset in Pembroke Pines is one to watch.
The Panthers are hosting a Class 1A district tournament Saturday. Mater Lakes and Pace are part of that district, too.
For Somerset senior Darian Estevez (152 lbs), he is competing for his sixth district title Saturday and fifth region title next week.
Estevez is a two-time state runner-up and five-time state qualifier. He has amassed more than 280 career wins with 160-plus pins.
Estevez is already committed to University of Chicago with his impressive mat accomplishments and an even more impressive academic standing. Carring a 5.0 GPA, he will graduate with an AA degree. A straight-A student, he is taking four AP classes and three more college credit courses and scored 29 on the ACT.
*BCAA Champ Cardinal Gibbons, a multi-time state champ, is once again ready for the post-season. The Chiefs are hosting districts on Wednesday. American Heritage and Coral Springs Charter are part of that district.
*Key West hosts a 1A district tournament on Friday which includes Westminster Christian.
*One of the Class 3A districts features Southwest and South Dade along with Columbus and Palmetto. What a district. It’s hosted this season by Southwest on Saturday.
Regionals will follow and then state on March 5-6 at Osceola Heritage Park - Silver Spurs Arena in Kissimmee.
The Eagles will try to stop South Dade’s state championship streak of seven consecutive titles — the longest active run in the state. Southwest recently won the GMAC title, besting South Dade to end the Bucs’s 10-year run with the title.
*Also in 3A, Flanagan is hosting a district tournament on Thursday. BCAA runner-up Cypress Bay is in that one as well as Cooper City and Miramar.
*More 3A, Doral hosts a district tournament on Saturday. Doral, Barbara Goleman and Miami Beach are contenders.
*Western High School is hosting a 3A district tournament on Friday. Coral Springs is part of it.
*Douglas and Deerfield Beach are in District 12-3A with Palm Beach schools at Olympic Heights on Saturday in Boca Raton.
*In Class 2A, Archbishop McCarthy is hosting a district tournament on Wednesday, and well-coached St. Thomas Aquinas is in that district.
*A solid Southridge team is in District 16-2A.
More Wrestling
Coral Springs IBT: American Heritage: 8th Grader Armando Wisdom (126); Junior Jaeden Kinlock (195); Junior Belizaire “Benzo” Bassette (Hwt) each won their respective weight class.
All County Teams on Wednesday
The Miami Herald All County teams for Fall sports will be in the Feb. 17 edition as well as on the Miami Herald website.
Wrestling coaches at districts
Email your team and/or individual district tournament results to hssports@miamiherald.com.
Submit varsity
game results
For high schools in Broward and Miami Dade counties, if you have varsity game results for this column, email hssports@miamiherald.com. Varsity only.
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Roundup compiled
by Jim Varsallone
jvarsallone@miamiherald.com
This story was originally published February 16, 2021 at 10:50 PM.
