Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Binnion’s late heroics lift Fort Lauderdale
FORT LAUDERDALE — For the second time in three years, Fort Lauderdale’s Aidan Binnion sent St. Thomas Aquinas packing in the regional playoffs.
Binnion scored the lone goal two years ago in the regional final to knock out St. Thomas, which had been ranked third in the nation and unbeaten in 25 games. The L’s went on to finish second in the state that season.
The senior defender did it again on Saturday night when he put home a corner kick by Juan Collazo with eight minutes remaining to give Fort Lauderdale a come-from-behind 2-1 victory over the Raiders in the regional semifinal in the Class 6A regional semifinal at the Inter Miami FC Training Facility. Fort Lauderdale will face Doral Academy on the road on Tuesday night.
“I think the goal two years ago was better because they were a powerhouse, number three in the nation and they were undefeated,” Binnion said. “We were the underdogs then.
“This goal was big though,” said Binnion, who scored his third goal of the season. “I think they wanted it more. I think we were a little complacent since we beat them 5-0 the last time we played them. They scored first and that kind of woke us up.”
St. Thomas Aquinas seized a 1-0 lead midway through the first half on a blistering free kick by Giuliano Potenti.
The Raiders’ Diego Lara was fouled by Fort Lauderdale’s Miguel Restrepo 25 yards out with 20:46 remaining in the first half.
Potenti curled the ball over the wall and past L’s keeper James Medrano for the goal.
The L’s answered just three minutes later when Camilo Prado nodded home a 20-yard free kick from Gabriel Gonzalez from 5 yards out to tie the game at 1-1.
“Since we lost in the state finals two years ago, we want it really bad,” said Prado, who has eight goals this season. Last season, the L’s wound up 14-5-2 and fell in the regional quarters. “I feel like this is our revenge tour. This is huge. I feel like we are going to do it and I am confident in my team.”
Both teams had chances in the final two minutes to take the lead. St. Thomas’ Potenti was stymied from 5 yards out by Medrano with two minutes remaining, while the L’s Mario Simoes had his shot from 10 yards out saved by Raiders goalkeeper Tyler Pages-Sanchez
while he was lying on his back in the final minute.
St. Thomas (4-5-4) had two chances on free kicks late in the contest, but Matthew Pryce’s 20-yarder was wide and Fernando Velasco’s 35-yard try with the wind at his back carried over the bar. They also had a man advantage for the final three minutes when an L’s player picked up a second yellow card and was sent off.
“It was a good game and there were chances both ways,” said St. Thomas Aquinas coach John Walsh. “It comes down to who can finish and this year they have more finishers than we do.
“I think it’s a good group,” Walsh added. “We played four seniors, two juniors and the rest are freshmen and sophomores. So not having a year to work with the younger guys, and get them in our strength program and make them bigger, stronger, faster
and able to compete…this is our 13th game of the year so there wasn’t a lot of time for these guys to figure out what it takes to compete at the high school level. We were trying, but at times tonight it was boys against men.”
Fort Lauderdale (8-12) has won four straight, including a 5-0 win over the Raiders in the district final, has outscored the opposition, 37-10 this year. They also defeated Royal Palm Beach 6-1 in the regional quarterfinal. The team’s lone setback was a 2-0 loss to Cooper City on Jan. 26.
Fort Lauderdale almost didn’t make it past the district tournament. They were shut down for a fourth time due to COVID and they were able to have the district tournament moved back a week.
“Our athletic department worked very hard to get the games moved back a week,” said L’s coach Mourinho
Snipe. “We had played McArthur and they had a positive test and we had to shut down. The crazy thing is we have had to overcome so many challenges this year.
“This is a mature group of players and they know what it takes to get to state,” Snipe added. “They work for each other, play for each other and the sky is the limit for them. Aidan came up big again.”