
Two weeks ago, the Eastside boys soccer team defeated host Santa Fe (Alachua), 1-0, in the Alachua County Cup Semifinals.
On Thursday night in Alachua, it appeared the Rams and the Raiders were headed toward another close finish.
But after a scoreless first half, the top-seeded Raiders scored three second-half goals and defeated No. 3 seed Eastside, 3-0, to win the Class 3A-District 4 title.
“The intensity was there during the Cup (Alachua County), we just couldn’t find the back of the net,” said Santa Fe coach Morgan Dall’Acqua. “Tonight, the soccer gods smiled on us a little bit.”
It was the second straight district title for Santa Fe.
“I was out here before the game painting the fields and just kind of going through it and my prayer to myself was let us never lose sight of the work and the effort that goes into it and the joy that comes out of it because these championships, they’re not given, that stuff is earned,” Dall’Acqua said. “District titles are handed out in January, but they’re earned over the winter break, they’re earned during the Thanksgiving break, when these kids are going through their team building activities.
“For us, they were earned the first week of June when we got the boys in the weight room, and we got them up here and running stadiums and running on the track…I’m proud of these boys and the fact that they bought in.”
Eastside (9-7-5) was aggressive early and nearly took the lead a little over seven minutes in on a goal shot by senior Jonas Traktuev.
However, sophomore goalkeeper Mayer Steen helped the Raiders seize some momentum by making the save.
“He [Traktuev] finds a way to get himself in space. He’s really, really good off his right foot, so with Mayer being able to come up with the save there I think that that kind of settled us down a little bit,” Dall’Acqua said. “Eastside was more aggressive this evening than last time we saw them. The tempo was a little bit higher from them tonight and we didn’t expect them to come out and take those early shots, so the fact that they did, we needed Mayer to step up. And for a sophomore, he’s a heck of a young player…he did a phenomenal job for us.”
Traktuev, who leads the area with 31 goals, had another shot on goal less than three minutes later on a free kick from near midfield, but the shot sailed wide left.
Santa Fe (13-3-2) controlled the tempo in the second half.
The first goal of the night came on a free kick by junior Drew Cornell who placed the ball perfectly in front of the net from 30 yards out where junior Dharma Rico used his head to find the back of the net.
“Their game plan was just to make it through the game and us not score, so they had a stronger defense and had more people drop back when we attacked so it kind of closed up a lot of gaps,” said senior Giacomo Burgetto, who leads the Raiders with 20 goals this season. “But that one goal that Dharma got broke down the game, and now they can’t defend. They have to attack forward and now they’re on the attack and having to score…it caused us to get two more goals back-to-back.”
The second goal came on a penalty kick by Burgetto from 12 yards out for a 2-0 lead with 23:21 remaining.
“I like to have my little dance before just to throw the keeper off and it’s kind of worked out all year,” he said. “I haven’t missed a penalty, knock on wood.”
Burgetto finished off the scoring with a free kick just outside the top of the box just five minutes later for a commanding 3-0 lead.
With the win, Santa Fe will host a Class 3A-Region 1 Quarterfinal on Tuesday, while Eastside has an outside shot at an at-large bid.
“We’re not looking to stop here,” Burgetto said. “We want to keep going. We want to win regionals. We want to make it to states, so it’s just a step forward for us.”
FHSAA Soccer District Championship results
Thursday, Jan. 30
GIRLS
Class 3A-District 4 at Keystone Heights
2 Santa Fe (Alachua) 2, 5 Eastside 0
Class 5A-District 5 at Springstead (Spring Hill)
1 Lecanto 2, 2 Gainesville 0
BOYS
Class 2A-District 2 at Bell
4 Branford 3, 2 Bell 2
Class 3A-District 4 at Santa Fe (Alachua)
1 Santa Fe (Alachua) 3, 3 Eastside 0