Lakewood Ranch falls in regionals

LAKEWOOD RANCH — As his teammates huddled together in disbelief, Marco Padilla stood in the middle of the field with his head held high.

It had only been a matter of minutes since the Lakewood Ranch senior and his fellow Mustang teammates were a sudden-death goal away from making their first-ever state playoff appearance. And, as he looked over at the celebration on the Cape Coral boys soccer team’s bench, Padilla’s heart sank.

But no matter how disappointed he may have been over the outcome, Padilla refused to let his head fall.

“Champions always keep their heads up,” Padilla said. “We’re true champions. Right now, we’re a little hurt because we had the mentality to win. But champions have to know how to lose. I’m not going to take this loss easy, but I’m still a champion.”

With the game tied at the end of regulation, the visiting Seahawks scored the game-winning goal on a corner kick from Paolo Acosta to Caio Amaral, propelling Cape Coral to a 2-1 victory over Lakewood in the Class 4A-Region 3 finals Feb. 12.

“We had our chance to win the game,” coach Vito Bavaro said. “The bottom line is they got one more chance than we did. (Cape Coral) was a good team. It seemed like we were evenly matched. It just came down to not making mistakes and a little luck.

“Anything could’ve happened there,” he said. “We had our chances to score. It just didn’t fall for us.”

Lakewood advanced to the regional finals for the first time in school history after defeating George Steinbrenner 1-0 in a regional semifinal match Feb. 8. Jake Severson — the smallest player on the team — headed the ball in for the lone goal of the game.

Cape Coral took a 1-0 lead in the 34th minute of the regional final when Amaral sent the ball past the outstretched arms of goalkeeper Dan Murray. The goal could’ve rattled Murray and the Mustangs. Instead, it had the opposite effect.

“That gave us more motivation to play better,” Padilla said of the goal.

Padilla evened the score just before halftime off an assist from Zach Reda. The goal was Padilla’s 23rd goal of the season and the last of his high school career. Padilla, a former defender turned forward, helped lead the Mustangs to a 20-win season and their first appearance in the regional finals.

“It’s (been) a great season,” said Padilla, who plans to play college soccer. “It’s incredible. Even though we lost, I’ve never lived with a family so big. We beat Jesuit, and that game was incredible. I’ve never seen a team and family come together and never give up. That’s our philosophy: Never give up.

“I’m very sad to leave,” he said. “This is my family. My brothers and my other dad (coach Bavaro) are right there, but what can you do? You’ve got to keep walking.”

Padilla is one of six seniors who played their final game in a Lakewood uniform. Murray, Seth Browning, Shane Baumann, Austin Rummel and Kyle Loeffler also are moving on.

“These seniors played their hearts out; and it’s going to be tough to replace them next year and make another run to the Final Four,” Bavaro said.

But rather than looking ahead to next season, Bavaro spent time focusing on his players’ historic season and their ability to keep fighting.

“The kids played their hearts out,” Bavaro said. “I have no regrets for the year. They played hard. We had a 20-win season. This is the furthest the team’s ever been (playing) in the regional finals.”

Contact Jen Blanco at [email protected].