By Kyle LoJacono
The Sunlake boys soccer players walked onto the field for the Class 3A-District 8 finals unsure if they could beat Land O’ Lakes, but departed as champions.
The No. 3 seeded Seahawks (16-6-3) had never beaten the Gators (19-3-2) in their five-year history. In addition, the No. 1 seeded Land O’ Lakes had a streak of seven straight district titles intact and had just claimed its sixth consecutive Sunshine Athletic Conference championship.
That history was no match for Sunlake on Jan. 27, as it defeated its cross-town rival 3-2. The Seahawks built a 3-0 first half lead thanks to goals from Alex Piruzza, Colin Spencer and Terry St. Onge. Josh Davis put in a pair for goals to bring the Gators within one, but the comeback fell short.
“It’s big for us,” said Sunlake coach Sam Koleduk. “We wanted to beat Land O’ Lakes last year when we played them for the district championship, but we came up short.”
By winning, Sunlake earns a home playoff game for the first time, while the Gators must travel for the regional quarterfinals contest.
It was a struggle for the Gators to win the semifinals contest 5-2 against Wesley Chapel (11-8-4) on Jan. 25. They scored in the sixth minute when Sean Young headed in a corner kick from Miguel Laliberte.
The Wildcats answered in the 13th minute after David Santacruz’s shot was partially deflected by a Land O’ Lakes defender into the net.
Wesley Chapel’s Morgan Shepherd, who leads Pasco County with 32 goals, kept the pressure on the tournament host with breakaways in the 25th and 26th minutes, connecting on the second to go up 2-1.
With the season on the line, 15-year Gators coach Mark Pearson delivered a simple halftime message.
“Just get back to our game,” Pearson said. “We got out of our game when we got down 2-1. We started doing uncharacteristic things. That hurt us going forward, and we forced some things we would never normally force.”
His players responded in the 35th minute. Laliberte brought the ball up the left side and slid a pass to Pat Lawson, who sent a cross buried home by Davis.
Frankie Pinciotti put the Gators up for good when he picked up a rebound and fired it past Wildcats goalkeeper Christian Monahan.
“It’s a relief because we underestimated that team,” Pinciotti said.
Andy Garcia and Nathan Dalton added Land O’ Lakes’ other tallies.
The Gators were less than pleased with the performance despite the three-goal win.
“It wasn’t that satisfying for me because of the mess-ups in the first half,” said Lawson, who had two assists. “We can’t have those mess-ups. We shouldn’t have to get down to start playing our best.”
In the other semifinal, Sunlake defeated Pasco (13-3-1) 5-0, avenging a 4-0 loss earlier this season. It is the second straight year the Seahawks have sent the Pirates home for good following a 2-1 victory in the regional semis in 2011.
“One of their defenders told me ‘man this is two seasons in a row. I can’t believe you guys,’” said Conner Gilboy, who leads Sunlake with 26 goals while adding 25 assists.
Koleduk was confident his team would play Pasco tougher.
“We played such a strong schedule and I don’t think that Pasco was four goals better than us by any means,” Koleduk said.
Pirates defender Steven Mazza blocked two first-half shots that would have been sure goals, but St. Onge broke through in the 36th minute off a cross from Derek Noble to go into halftime up 1-0.
Sunlake kept up the pressure in the second half, getting goals from Gilboy and Colin Armstrong, Gilboy’s cousin, before the water break.
“Pasco had some injured players, so we knew if we kept playing hard we’d get opportunities as they got tired,” said Armstrong.
Armstrong added another tally after play resumed, followed by a goal by Calvin Restrepo.
While the Seahawks broke out offensively, the Pirates mounted little attack with only one shot on goal. Pasco’s Dillon Dunbar sent a cross through the front of Sunlake’s net in the first half, but no teammate could get to it.
“I think defensively we were pretty solid,” Koleduk said. “Other than that one chance by Dunbar we kept them down. It was about 30 minutes before our goalie even touched the ball.”
