Pereira’s hat trick leads Palmetto girls to GMAC soccer title; MAST boys repeat

Apparently all they had to do was fall behind.

Just 12 minutes away from having to settle for a second consecutive runner-up finish in the GMAC tournament, the Palmetto girls’ soccer team, led by senior Abigail Pereira, decided there would be no second-place medals this time.

After falling behind 2-1 in the game’s 68th minute, the top seeded Panthers scored three goals in the next nine minutes to rally for a 4-2 victory over MAST Academy in the girls’ GMAC championship game Friday at Traz Powell Stadium.

Pereira, who had already scored her first goal in the game’s 12th minute to stake her team to an early 1-0 lead, then scored three minutes after her team fell behind to tie the game at two with nine minutes left. Pereira took a centering pass from Daovy Acevedo, beat MAST defenders down the middle creating a one-on-one with Makos keeper Daniella Abad, beat her to the ball flipping it to the left and then tapping it into the net.

Two minutes after that, on a nearly identical goal, she took a similar pass from Acevedo, again beat MAST defenders down the middle beating Abad to the ball and knocked it in to complete her “hat trick” game.

Acevedo scored three minutes after that to complete the rally to give the Panthers (10-2-3) their fourth GMAC title in the last five years after winning three in a row from 2021-2023.

“When we fell behind, I just kept telling my teammates to just keep pushing, that we could get this if we turned it up,” Pereira said. “It was just a matter of keeping on fighting, fighting and fighting, to leave our blood, sweat and tears out there. I don’t know why but I just had a gut feeling after we fell behind that we would pull it off. It feels great to win this after losing last year. We didn’t want to finish second again.”

For the Makos, it was heartbreak city.

After senior Florencia Alvarez, the team’s leading scorer, popped in the equalizer off an assist from Luisa Verswyvel 15 minutes before halftime, she gave her team that 2-1 lead when she was fouled just inside the penalty box by Katarina Slazas and was awarded a penalty kick.

Even though Palmetto keeper London Gill made a terrific save diving to her right, she couldn’t hang on to the ball. Alvarez then got to the loose ball and knocked it home.

Looking for their first GMAC title in program history (after runner-up finishes in 2011 and 2021), the Makos were 12 minutes away but could not sustain the momentum as they had no answer for Pereira.

“Abbie went off today – she just would not stop,” Palmetto coach Alex Castro said. “She’s a senior, one of our team leaders and when it was time for one of our team leaders to step up when things didn’t look good for us, there she was. She wanted it, she wanted it more than anybody else on the field.”

Castro took over the program in the 2020-21 season and has been there for every one of these GMAC titles and knew that his players wanted it bad after coming up short in a title game loss to Edison a year ago.

“It feels great for these girls because they put in a lot of work fought to the end and my hat is off to them,” said Castro as he removed his cap. “When you fall behind late in a game, it usually means you’re done. The more you find out just how much fight your girls have and they showed that out there in those final 12 minutes.”

MAST boys repeat

One year ago, when the MAST Academy boys soccer team won a first-ever GMAC championship, David Holztreger was watching from the sidelines – as the team manager.

Fast forward to Friday night and there was Holztreger not only wearing a GMAC championship medal around his neck as a player, but he was the hero of the moment.

MAST Academy had just captured its second straight GMAC title and, after nearly 70 minutes of scoreless soccer, it was Holztreger who scored the game’s lone goal as the Makos edged top seeded Miami Beach 1-0 at Traz Powell Stadium.

“I mean, sometimes a dream just takes time so I did what I could last year as the team manager and waited for my turn,” said Holztreger, now a junior. “Tonight I got my turn and helped my team win a big game. Really cool.”

Holztreger’s goal came on a perfectly executed counter-attack following a Beach free kick. Manuel Santos fed him a long ball down the right side and it was off to the races. Holztreger raced free down the right side trying to chase down the loose ball while Beach goalkeeper Lenonx Muñoz took off from the net trying to get there first. Holztreger won as he right-footed a shot from 30 yards out that found the bottom left corner of the net. He then celebrated by ripping off his shirt (which got him a yellow card) while being mobbed by teammates.

“I saw him (Muñoz) start to come out and I felt like I could beat him to ball and I did,” Holztreger said. “When it went off my foot, I knew I had the bottom left corner. Both defenses were playing tough so I knew whoever put that first goal in was probably going to win the game and fortunately it was us.”

Beach (12-3-2), which won its first GMAC title in more than 20 years in 2022, stepped up the pressure attempting to create chances but the Makos defense was up to the task as Guilhermo Volkart bicycle kicked a loose ball in front of the net in the final seconds to lock up the win.

“I’ve known David since he was 11 years old when I was coaching him at the Key Biscayne Soccer Club and what he did out there tonight is a classic example of perseverance, commitment, discipline and hard work,” said first-year MAST coach Andres Angel, who saw his team improve to 11-1-2. “He just dedicated himself to being patient and getting better each year. Now he’s the team captain and deserved a night like tonight.”

This story was originally published January 10, 2025 at 11:37 PM.