Lakewood Ranch boys soccer one win from first state title

Lakewood Ranch boys soccer coach Vito Bavaro let everyone know before the season his feelings about his team's chance to win a state title.

“This is the year.”

The program had reached the state Final Four once before, during the 2013-2014 season, when the Mustangs fell to eventual champion Melbourne 3-0, in the state semifinals. Still, Bavaro entered this year brimming with confidence, and with good reason. His Mustangs were ready.

Bavaro’s team has proven its coach correct, so far. The Mustangs beat Palm Harbor 4-3 on Feb. 4 in a back-and-forth regional semifinal, grinded out a 2-0 regional final win over Plant City on Feb. 7, and held off Seminole 4-3 in a Feb. 10 state semifinal.

Now, the Mustangs will play Cypress Bay for the Class 5A state title on Feb. 18 at Spec Martin Stadium in DeLand.

“We're a complete team,” Bavaro said following the regional final. “The 2014 team was a good team, we had one or two guys that could score goals, we had a very, very good goalie and a very good defense. But we did not have the depth. This team is a complete team. If we're going to do anything, this is it.

“We have a team that can win it. We have two good goalies, got a great defense, good midfielders, really good midfielders, and we have about six guys who can score goals.”

The Mustangs have 13 seniors, and chemistry they have built over four years and beyond: Many of the team’s seniors played with Braden River Soccer Club when they were children. That has helped them develop a deadly attack.

They are not the biggest team, by Bavaro’s own admission, but their skill when counter-attacking and passing in tight spaces is a sight to behold. On Lakewood Ranch’s first goal of the regional final, Sam Stapleton-Jones had the ball near the top of the box. He saw junior Pablo Vargas on the left side of the field, and sent him a pass. Without missing a beat, Vargas sent a low cross over to senior Ricky Yanez on the right side of the net, and Yanez buried it between the keeper’s legs.

“What a beautiful goal,” Bavaro said. “That's been our signature all year.”

The attack is well-rounded, as Bavaro points out, but Yanez and Vargas, who scored twice in the state semifinal, including the eventual game-winning goal, are the key cogs. Both players can use their speed and footwork to make something out of nothing, and have the ability to finish themselves or set up teammates for open shots. 

The Mustangs work on their passing constantly, running “three-man weave” drills every practice. Bavaro believes that if his team can get three passes off within 20 yards of the net before taking a shot, it can score every time.

Lakewood Ranch’s offense gets headlines, and deservedly so, but its defense is a big part of its success as well. Senior defenders Tyler Puhalovich and Daniel Rocco are stalwarts, and sophomore goaltender Ryan Freeman has come up large in the playoffs keeping the Mustangs’ momentum alive with diving saves in close games.

The defense will have to bring its “A” game to DeLand for the title game, because the Mustangs’ offense is facing its biggest challenge of the season. Cypress Bay has allowed just two goals in four playoffs games thus far, and has allowed more than one goal just once all season. The Lightning have made the final four three years in a row, and won the state title in 2014-2015.

No matter what happens, the players are just happy to have the opportunity to show off their skills in a state final.

“It feels amazing. I've been working for this since sophomore year," Yanez said. "Me, Pablo (Vargas), everyone on this team. Actually freshmen year, we were all on junior varsity together. We've been working because coach Bavaro, he knew he had a good team coming up.

“We argue on the field, but we always come back and are positive after that. It's like a family. It's crazy. We're like brothers on the field.”