Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Cypress Bay takes title
DELAND – This was about unfinished business. More importantly, this was for Max. Cypress Bay got an early goal from David Corredor and then hung on for a 1-0 victory against a gritty Lakewood Ranch team that played much of Saturday’s match with only 10 players to win the Florida Class 5A boys soccer title.
It’s the fifth state title in the last seven years for the Lightning and it set off a wave of emotions for the players who had dedicated their season to two things:
Erasing the sting of last year’s state semifinal loss to Winter Park, and to the memory of their late teammate, Max Cardenas, who was killed in a skateboarding accident in September.
“We dedicated the season to our fallen brother,” said Corredor, who helped enshrine the season’s fighting words: #AllFor12 — an homage to Cardenas’ jersey number and to his spirit, playing 12th man for this year’s Lightning.
Also, Corredor said, “We told our seniors last year when we lost it in the last 20 seconds we had unfinished business. We told them we were going to win it, and we did.”
The senior midfielder was elated. “It’s the best feeling in the world.”
It was a tough, sometimes testy, and physical game to say the least.
Lakewood Ranch coach Vito Bavaro received a yellow card, presumably for complaining about the officiating and the lack of calls going the Mustangs’ way.
That came after Lakewood Ranch’s Ricky Yanez received a red card with 20:27 remaining in the first half, leaving the Mustangs (20-3-1) down a man for the rest of the game.
Still, the Mustangs kept pressuring Cypress Bay for the rest of the game — particularly in the second half.
“Sometimes, even with a man down, it’s just the pace of the game,” Cypress Bay goalkeeper Sebastian Deckers said.
The Mustangs wanted it, but Deckers — who had five saves — was up to the challenge. “That’s why I’m a goalkeeper — I like big moments,” he said.
The biggest moment of the game, as it turned out, came when Corredor proved to be in the perfect spot to take a rebound off the hands of Lakewood Ranch keeper Ryan Freeman following a throw-in by Coe Sanfilippo and lofted the ball over Freeman’s head for a goal in the eighth minute.
“We were noticing the keeper kept on coming out,” Corredor said, “so I just said, ‘I’m going to put it over him and see what happens.’ And it went in.”
“It was a crazy game,” Cypress Bay coach Colin Ilgner said. “We score a goal off a throw-in, then they went down to 10 men on a red card. But the 10 men made them more fiery.”
The final whistle made for a pretty crazy celebration, too.
After all, it’s one thing to set a goal, quite another to realize it. And in the midst of their celebration, the team didn’t forget that what galvanized them all season was heartbreak — and finding a way to heal it.
Win for Max.