Douglas remain undefeated behind Sperandao
PARKLAND — Douglas junior midfielder Bruno Sperandao had a goal and an assist to lift the host Eagles to a 2-0 victory over Pembroke Pines Charter in a matchup of two undefeated boys soccer teams on Friday night.
“I liked my performance,” said Sperandao, who scored his sixth goal of the season in the 11th minute to give the host Eagles (10-0) a 1-0 lead and then delivered an assist to Daniel Medeiros, who iced the game in the 76th minute.
“We did a great job as group.”
Medeiros, a senior, had two opportunities in the first two minutes of the second half to extend the lead but was stymied both times by Pembroke Pines Charter senior goalkeeper Matthew Levy.
He scored his 14th goal of the season when he took a pass from Sperandao and chipped the ball past a charging Levy for a 2-0 lead. Pines Charter fell to 12-1 with the loss.
“This just helps us build momentum going into the break,” said Douglas coach Phil Lamarre, whose Eagles are off to their best start in school history.
“It’s hard to dominate an 80-minute match, but the second half they had us on our heels and had more possession and we had to defend, work hard and sooner or later we knew we would catch them on a break and we did.”
The Jaguars’ Ashton Cooper, who leads the county with 23 goals, was held in check most of the night.
It was a bittersweet evening for Pembroke Pines Charter coach Alvin James who attended his daughter’s graduation from the University of Central Florida and made the 3-plus hour trip back to the game and arrived 15 minutes into the game.
“It was a day that was discombobulated and disjointed,” James said. “We had players going for graduations, and I was at UCF and rushed down for the game. The whole tempo wasn’t the right setting for us. [Douglas] played a good game and are relentless defensively.”