West Orange soccer advances to state semis

IF YOU GO

FHSAA Boys Soccer Semifinals: West Orange vs. Freedom

WHEN: 3 p.m., Friday, Feb. 13

WHERE: Eastern Florida State College, 3865 N. Wickham Road, Melbourne

COST: $9 admission,    $5 parking

WEBSITE: fhsaa.org

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WINTER GARDEN — So much for a rebuilding year.

The West Orange Warriors boys soccer team is going back to state.

The host Warriors defeated Flagler Palm Coast on Feb. 6, 3-1, in the FHSAA Class 5A Region 1 Final. 

With the victory, West Orange (13-1-4) advanced to the FHSAA Class 5A State Semifinals, which take place at 3 p.m. Feb. 13 at Eastern Florida State College in Melbourne. The Warriors will take on a local opponent in the Freedom Patriots from south Orange County.

The return to the state tournament is quite an accomplishment for a team that graduated 13 players from its 2013-14 roster.

“It means a lot,” said senior Fernando Torres, who scored the Warriors’ first goal Friday night. “We grew tremendously from the start of the season. We really didn’t have that much chemistry (at first), but toward the end of the season, we grew up together, and we’re really close to each other now.”

Torres’ goal was matched by a goal from FPC’s Nathan Monsanto early in the second half, and the score remained tied until about the 67th minute. That’s when a flurry of shots on goal by West Orange led to freshman Affonso Temporal finding the back of the net for what would become the deciding goal.

“We talked about crashing after shots, which we have been doing a poor job of — (but) we did a heck of a job that time because we kept on crashing,” Warriors coach Scott Fisher said. “Affonso is a heck of a freshman. He sees the field really well for a kid his age.”

Senior Anthony Schultes scored West Orange’s third goal in the game’s waning moments to seal the win.

West Orange goalkeeper Alec Holland had six saves, and the Warriors’ defense continues to be a pleasant surprise during this playoff run.

“The funny thing is, when we came into the season, we were a little iffy about our defense — and our defense played phenomenally,” Fisher said. “We gave up a goal off of a throw-in in this game, but otherwise, we shut down a team that’s been scoring quite a few goals.

“Holland came back (for this season), and we knew we were going to be good (at keeper),” he said. “I think it just took a while (for the defense) to mesh. We just finally found a group that could play together.”

The hope now is that that level of defensive play will continue to the Feb. 13 match with the Patriots (19-3-2). The two teams played one another roughly a month ago, battling to a 2-2 draw on Jan. 15.

The winner of Friday’s semifinal will advance to the FHSAA Class 5A State Championship Match at 3:05 p.m. Saturday against the winner of the semifinal between Cypress Bay and Haines City.