By Kyle LoJacono
The Land O’ Lakes boys soccer team has been a constant in the playoffs since any of its current players was born.
The Gators (13-2-2) have reached regionals in 13 of the last 14 years, missing out only during the 2002-03 season. Land O’ Lakes has also captured seven straight district and five consecutive Sunshine Athletic Conference championships.
The Gators’ program has been as dominating in the regular season as any Tampa Bay area squad, but the regional tournament has been a bit of a challenge in recent years. The Gators have not advanced past the second round of the postseason since 2005, but the 2010-11 squad has plans of changing that trend.
“The first goal is to win districts and after that get through regionals,” said senior forward/midfielder Nathan Dalton. “We’re capable of it, but we just break down every year and it’s frustrating.”
Last year epitomized that recent frustration for Land O’ Lakes. The Gators entered the regional quarterfinals with a 23-1 record, but lost to Pasco 1-0 at home. The defeat stung even more because the central Pasco County squad had beaten the Pirates during the regular season.
“The players know that we’ve stumbled the last few years in regionals, especially last year when we lost to a team we had previously beat,” said 16-year Land O’ Lakes coach Mark Pearson. “The players just need to step up on the night. Sometimes we don’t take advantage of our opportunities; sometimes we just have a mental breakdown. We just have to make sure that doesn’t happen this year.”
Pearson said that stinging loss last year helped the returning players understand the importance of playing their best in every game.
“We’ve won a lot of games this year, but we know going into districts, which we have every year, that records don’t really mean much on any night,” Pearson said. “We’re very conscious of that.”
The squad has 10 seniors, but also lost 10 graduates from last season.
Among the departures are midfielder Justin Lyles and goalkeeper Kody Parker, who received scholarships to play at Thomas University and the University of Tampa, respectively.
“With losing a lot of guys we wanted the returning players to stand up and work harder for each other,” said senior midfielder Jake Frahm, who has five goals and 12 assists this year.
Losing Parker, who was named the All-Laker/All-Lutz News boys soccer Player of the Year last season, left a big void as he was a three-year starter between the pipes. He recorded 95 saves and 15 shutouts in 2010-11.
Moving into the net is junior Mitch McCuen, who told Pearson he wanted to give it a try at the end of last year.
“He’s working hard to get better,” Pearson said. “I told him what he needed to do, and to his credit over the summer he did everything he needed. He’s done very well.”
McCuen has 1.1 goals against average this year while recording four shutouts.
Graduation left an opening at goalkeeper, but the tradition-rich Gators seem to always have established returning players. Dalton, Frahm and senior forward/midfielder Andy Garcia have all been on the squad the last four seasons.
“We were just looking to build off all the talent we already had,” said Garcia, who has scored 14 goals while adding three assists. “We just want to keep the winning record going. Losing all that talent is hard, but we still have a lot of good players.”
Dalton said having so much talent also pushes the players to continually improve.
“You have to always be on your game,” said Dalton, who has a team-high 16 assists while adding four tallies. “You can never slip up. If you do mess up you know there’s going to be someone there to replace you.”
Pearson said having such talent is a luxury for the team, but added they will have to play great defense and capitalize on scoring opportunities to reach their goals.
“We need a lot of effort on defense every night,” Pearson said. “I’m a big believer in defense winning championships, so we have to be incredibly organized and have a lot of commitment to that.
“In terms of scoring goals, we have a lot of guys who can do that,” Pearson continued. “Josh Davis, Miguel Laliberte, Andy Garcia — we’ve probably got a dozen players with 10 or more points. We have a lot of firepower, but I’d like to see a bit more work ethic. You can get a little bit lazy when you play teams that you think you can just walk on the field and beat. That hurts the style of game we’re looking for. Hopefully we’ll have the right motivation for districts.”
Senior forwards Davis and Laliberte are leading Land O’ Lakes in scoring with 18 and 13, respectively.
Land O’ Lakes hosts the Class 3A-District 7 tournament Jan. 24-27. The championship game is on Friday, Jan. 27 at 7 p.m.
The Gators travel to Fivay on Wednesday, Jan. 18 before hosting Mitchell on Friday, Jan. 20. Both games are at 7 p.m.
