Second-half momentum swing dooms Gulliver Prep’s chances of a boys’ soccer three-peat

There would be no miracle finishes this time.

Just two weeks ago, the Gulliver Prep boys’ soccer team tied a regional semifinal game against SLAM Miami Academy in the final 60 seconds, ultimately winning in PKs to rescue its season.

On Tuesday afternoon at Spec Martin Stadium, the Raiders saw hopes of a third consecutive state title go up in smoke following a 3-2 loss to Delray Beach American Heritage in a Class 3A state semifinal.

The end came in an especially painful fashion as Gulliver (19-3-2), after overcoming the shock of falling behind in the first two minutes of the game, seemingly had everything under control with a 2-1 lead and less than 16 minutes left.

That’s when the floor came out from under them when the Stallions scored two goals just 31 seconds apart to turn a one-goal deficit into a one goal lead which proved to be the difference.

Heritage (11-4-3) advance to its first state championship game since 2018 when it won its most recent of four state titles. The Stallions will chase a fifth Friday at 4 p.m. against Orlando Lake Highland Prep.

“I actually thought we played really well,” Gulliver coach Scott Davidson said. “We did a nice job of overcoming that early goal by them but sometimes you just have to give it to your opponent as well. Heritage is a really good team, well-coached and hats off to them for finding a way to pull it out and move on.”

When Davidson’s senior center back Jorge Gouvea scored from front 15 yards out in the center of the field thanks to a great centering pass from Bruno Ripalda with just over 32 minutes left, Gulliver had all the momentum and a 2-1 lead.

The Raiders dominated the next 12 minutes and had two more golden scoring chances that would’ve given them a much-needed insurance goal only to be turned away but a pair of great saves by Heritage keeper David Derk.

Then came the fateful turnaround for Gulliver when Ripalda was called for a hand ball in the penalty box with 16:31 to play. The Stallions were awarded a penalty kick and, even though Gulliver keeper Sonny Garcia guessed right, diving to his left to try and make the save, Julian Braverman had enough on the ball to get it past him tying the game.

Just a half minute later, the Raiders turned the ball over deep in their own end giving Heritage a two-on-one break which Ryan Ashley and Jake Stansbury executed to perfection. Ashley dribbled down the right side before centering a pass to Stansbury who knifed it into the bottom left corner of the net past a diving Garcia.

“Maybe we felt like we had the game in hand and that might’ve been a mistake on our part,” said Gouvea, a senior who enjoyed back-to-back state titles the last two years and a national championship last season. “We really started to dominate and created more chances to score but then, out of nowhere we get the hand ball call, they tie it and everything swung right there.”

Heritage played solid defense over the final 16 minutes, limiting the Raiders to a couple of decent scoring chances, the best by Marco Balestrazzi who raced Derk to a one-on-one ball and barely got there in time to deflect the ball just wide of the right post, to hang on for the win.

“It wasn’t the ending we thought we were going to have but it is what it is and we’ll have to live with the result,” Gouvea said. “It’s a wonderful feeling to have been a part of this team. All these guys, they’re my brothers, stuff happens and I guess it wasn’t meant to be. I’m just happy to have been a part of this team and wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.”

Said Davidson: “We had some chances to add to that lead but couldn’t find that extra goal. Had we finished one of those chances and gone up 3-1, we probably would’ve been alright but again, you have to give it up to Heritage, they were gritty and kept battling.

“That’s life. It didn’t happen. What did happen is that we had a terrific season, we played very well today, but ran into an inspired opponent who finished their chances when they had them and just went out and found a way to beat us. Not everything is always going to go your way all the time but you to behave appropriately when it doesn’t, learn lessons from it and come back stronger and better from it.”

This story was originally published February 25, 2025 at 6:01 PM.