Mustang boys soccer must rebuild after agonizing loss

How much can a single call change the perspective of an entire program?

Ricky Yanez's red card in the first half of the Lakewood Ranch boys soccer team's 1-0 Class 5A championship game loss to Cypress Bay, a controversial call that coach Vito Bavaro eviscerated after the game, may have tweaked it entirely.

In the Mustangs' case, their year-long slogan of "This is the team" became "this was the team." Playing a man down, and without one of its primary scoring threats, Lakewood Ranch watched its chance for its first state title, and the first boys soccer title for any Manatee County public school, fall by the wayside.

The statistics still leaned in their favor, indicating that even a handicapped Lakewood Ranch squad was talented enough to win. That will not be of much comfort to the Mustangs, especially the program’s 13 seniors, who will leave their high school careers behind without achieving the ultimate goal. 

"They kind of felt it (a state title) was taken away from them," Bavaro said. "I am trying to tell them to keep their heads high because they had done something nobody else had done in Manatee County and they can't take that away from them. They should be proud of their accomplishments that they made all year."

The program came close to a title in 2013-2014 when it lost in the semifinals, but that team did not have the expectations the 2016-2017 did. All season, as Yanez and other players have relayed repeatedly, Bavaro told them that this team was special, and talent-wise it was, but the program grew in strength thanks to years of work and careful planning that allowed the players to learn and grow together. 

"As a program, we are strong," Bavaro said. "We are never just about one kid. I think that is because of the way we built it. We built it not to surround everything around one kid, and to try to keep years together instead of pulling kids up and throwing them into situations that they are not ready for."

Yanez called this team a "real family" after the team's regional final. He had watched them anticipate each other's moves, shoot crisp passes across the pitch and joyously tackle each other after goals.

"It was probably the most whole team we have ever had as far as, there were no cliques inside the group," Bavaro said. "All those kids cam up together, all those kids played together. It makes a big difference when you plan the season. To lose this whole bunch of kids is tough, because they are the heart and soul of the program. We'll reboot and retool the team, and do what we always do, but it's not easy replacing those 13 kids." 

Thankfully for students and alumni, the well is not empty. Next year, leading scorer Pablo Vargas and goaltender Ryan Freeman return, as does Yanez’s brother, forward Wilmer Yanez. Bavaro also pointed out defensive midfielder Trevor Franko as someone who will contribute in the future. The Lakewood Ranch JV team lost one game all season, and has won the JV postseason tournament two years in a row. If there is any program that can rebound from a soul-crushing loss like the one the Mustangs experienced, it is this one. 

Still, there may never be another opportunity like the one this season provided. The dejected looks on the players’ faces after the game spoke all they words that through tears their voices could not. Fans of the program will have to take solace in the fact that the team's title window is not closing just yet, even if Lakewood Ranch's senior class had its personal window slammed shut.