The top two Alachua County boys soccer teams went head-to-head on Monday night at Buchholz.
Visiting Santa Fe (Alachua) struck first but a late goal in the first half by Buchholz led to a 1-1 tie on Senior Night on the Bobcats’ home campus.
While the draw spoiled an opportunity to get a win, Buchholz coach Phillip Journey had a lot of great things to say about his senior class.
“These seniors mean everything to me,” he said. “Most of them have played for me since they were sophomores, and we made it to the district final in Tallahassee as sophomores. We lost the final, but they have heart, tenacity, they’re aggressive…they have desire, they play hard. It’s the kind of players that you dream of having and it’s going to be hard to lose them because we’ve had them on varsity for three years.”
It was the second meeting between the two teams, who could see each other again in the Alachua County Cup Tournament next week.
“That’s a really, really good evening for our boys,” said first-year Santa Fe coach Morgan Dall’Acqua, who called Buchholz a regional semifinal, regional final type of opponent. “We showed good composure, a lot of growth from when we played them early in the season.
Buchholz defeated Santa Fe, 5-3, in the season opener for both teams on Nov.17, but this time the defenses were on display.
“We were missing (senior) Jonathon Mosley, who is our big midfielder,” Journey said. “He was sick, he’s out with the flu, and so we were a little bit off in the midfield because he’s so dominant. In the second half, I think we picked it up. We turned it around. We put all of the pressure on their defense…they were aggressive and played well. They went after every ball. It was a great game.”
The Raiders (7-2-2) struck first when senior Sean Allin found the left corner of the net at the 23:28 mark of the first half.
“Sean hit a whale of a goal,” Dall’Acqua said. “That’s a dynamic player and he really is our engine that drives our offense. That was on display this evening. It was an absolutely beautiful goal.”
It would remain 1-0 until about a minute was left in the opening half.
Sophomore Carlos Cadet delivered a crosser from the right side of the net inside to junior David Andre, who tied the match at 1-1.
Buchholz had a chance to break the tie 16 minutes into the second half on a penalty kick from 12 yards out by senior Eduardo Fuzy.
However, freshman goalkeeper Mayer Steen made perhaps the play of the game with a game-saving goal.
“That’s big, and this is a freshman against one of their seniors, and he’s a big banger,” Dall’Acqua said. “To come up with that save there, that was huge for us.”
Senior Philip Carcaba started the first half at goalkeeper for Buchholz, while junior James Robertson played the second half. The pair combined to limit the Raiders to just one goal.
“I love my keepers,” Journey said. “They always play well…they’re always in the game. They have the toughest job in many ways on that team. They can stop 20 goals and if one makes it they take all the pressure.”
Santa Fe, which has already surpassed its win total (five) from last season, was fighting outside its weight class.
The Class 6A Bobcats (7-0-3) entered the game ranked 19th overall in the state in the FHSAA rankings. Santa Fe, which is ranked 12th in Class 4A, was 106th in the rankings.
“We knew it was going to be a heavy-weight fight,” Dall’Acqua said. “The goal for this evening, game plan, just win the rounds. We took the first round, Buchholz took the second, and we went even through the last two rounds and it comes down to the ref’s decision, or the judge’s decision, and they called it a no contest, but we showed a lot of growth and I’m really proud of our boys. They really busted their butts.”
Santa Fe was scheduled to play at Suwannee (Live Oak) on Tuesday in a 4A-District 2 game, but Alachua County schools are closed due to weather.
The Bobcats will look to stay unbeaten at 7 p.m. on Wednesday at Suwannee.
“I can’t say enough good things about all of these players because they play with such determination and they take any tie or loss very hard,” said Journey.
