Timber Creek, Lake Nona rally for 7A semifinals boys soccer wins

Wolves and Lions will squar off on Friday for the FHSAA Class 7A state crown

Timber Creek senior defender Grayson Wright (25) celebrates after his 25-yard header tied the Class 7A boys soccer state semifinal against Palm Harbor on Monday at Lake Myrtle Sports Complex. / Bill Kemp

AUBURNDALE –  This one left many scratching their heads.

Timber Creek boys soccer pulled off an improbable second-half comeback to topple Palm Harbor University, 4-3, in a Class 7A semifinal at Lake Myrtle Sports Complex and vault themselves into the state championship game slated for Friday at 10 a.m. against Lake Nona.

“This is magical. I am lost for words,” said Ibrahim Chehab, whose team will be playing for its first state championship. 

Timber Creek was trailing 3-1 late in the second half when it pulled three goals out of thin air, including the game-winner by junior defender Mathias Argudo with five seconds left on the clock to pull out the win.

“I would be lying to you if I said we were going to score with five seconds to go. I kept telling our players Lake Nona was down in the first game 3-1 and they came back.won. We have to keep believing,” Chehab said. 

 Argudo said he fielded a perfect pass from Adam Shalaby, who blocked for him as well.

“He did a great job and I am just super happy for the win,”  Argudo said. “To be honest, I thought we would be going to overtime, but I saw that last chance right there and that was it. Now we have to go with everything and play the best we can to win the state title.”

Not to be outdone, senior defender Grayson Wright scored on a header from 25-yards out to knot the game 3-3.

“Of course I was aiming for it off the header,” Wright said.  “I saw it come in from a pass to our winger out wide, so I went over the top and jumped up with a guy right in front of me and put it right in.”

Down 3-1, sophomore midfielder Hugo Stallone started the second-half rally, scoring on a free kick with 17:41 remaining in the game, to narrow the Palm Harbor lead to 3-2.

Timber Creek also scored on a first-half goal by senior midfielder Preston Williams to take 1-0 lead with 33:03 remaining in the first half. Palm Harbor score the next three goals to take a 3-1 lead.

Palm Harbor picked up goals from Roberto Soliz, Maximo Navaez and Nicholas Malak to round out its scoring.

Lake Nona 4, Doral Academy 3

The Lake Nona junior goalkeeper drilled home the winning PK goal in a third overtime session Monday to deliver the Lions a 4-3 state semifinal victory over Doral Academy and a berth in the Class 7A state championship game scheduled for 10 a.m. Friday at Lake Myrtle Sports Complex.

Murillo Mello’s shot gave Lake Nona a 4-2 advantage during the PK shootout. Moa Silva, Enzo Moncorvo and Gabriel Campos also scored PK shots during the third overtime session for Lake Nona.

“I was thinking about this shot the whole week,” Mello said. “It feels  so good. (Playing for the state championship) has been my dream.

Lake Nona junior forward Arthur Maranhao (8) battles for a 50-50 ball with Doral Academy senior defender Miquel Pacifico (3) during the first half of a Class 7A semifinal at the FHSAA state tournament Monday at Lake Myrtle Sports Park in Auburndale. Manahao scored on the play. / Bill Kem

Lake Nona found itself trailing Doral 3-1 with 23:35 left in the second half. But the Lions never panicked. Instead sophomore midfielder Moa Silva stepped up and delivered two back-to-back goals in a period of seven minutes. 

Sliva booted in a rebound shot at the 21:22 mark of the second half, to bring Lake Nona within a goal. He tied the game 3-3 on a PK kick at the 14:08 mark, where the game stood until the third overtime.

 “It sums up our whole team,” Silva said. “Down 3-1, and having the mentality to keep playing the way we were playing not letting it get us down. It just sums up me and our whole team. To help the team with two goals and the first assist, it feels good, and now we can focus on Friday.”

Lake Nona first-year head coach Anton D Justin Sealey II said he was super excited for the boys and also the school after some rough times recently. 

“We’ve had a heck of a last two weeks.Lots of things happened on campus,” Sealey said. “We knew they were a good team so we were anticipating anything. We were comfortable when we got to PKs because we believe in our players, so once we got it to PKs, we were pleased.

This is the first time for the school and the first time for me, so it’s just one game at a time.”