West Orange boys soccer falls short in state title comeback

A common reference in soccer is being up 2-0 — especially early in the first half — is the most dangerous lead in the sport. 

On Saturday, March 2, at Spec Martin Stadium in DeLand, the West Orange High boys soccer team took that saying to heart. 

After falling behind 2-0 in the first half of their Class 7A state championship game against Boca Raton High (24-0-2), the Warriors (14-5-1) pushed the Bobcats for 60-plus minutes of game time and nearly clawed their way back. 

The disadvantages of a 2-0 lead, although preferential to being on the losing side, are significant. Winning teams in this scenario tend to become more passive as opposed to continuing to do what got them the lead: Playing on the front foot and being the aggressor in the match.

This transition in play style and mentality usually allows the losing team to take the mantle of aggressor and have more opportunity to push the envelope to get the goals needed to flip the script and along with it the momentum. 

West Orange knew it had what it took to make this a game.

“We’ve done comebacks similar to the situation we were in before — the last 17 minutes against Mandarin in the regional finals being one of them,” West Orange coach Scott Fisher said following the game. “We knew we could do it. We knew, too, that we were going to wear them down, and as you could tell, they pretty much were done in the second half.”

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The Warriors dominated possession in the second half and beyond just having the ball, they created chance after chance, slowly but surely chipping away at the Bobcats’ stamina and resolve to defend. 

“We knew in the second half we’d dominate, because of how much they pushed early in the game,” Fisher said. “We knew they couldn’t keep it up, especially as long as we kept moving the ball like we did in the second half.”

Eventually, the dam broke, and the Warriors were able to score their first goal of the gam. Finlay Prain’s team-leading 18th goal of the season was a header that floated in the top right corner of the goal, well beyond the reach of the Bobcats’ goalie.

Unfortunately, that goal came a little too late in the 74th minute of the 80-minute contest. Despite a six-minute fire show of chances, antics and full-throttle soccer, there wasn’t enough time on the clock for the Warriors to push the game to extra time.

“Ultimately, we can’t give up two goals and then wait for that point in the game to turn it up and expect to get the win,” Fisher said. “There were a few things that we got away from that we should have been doing early on, that we started doing in the second half, but you know what? They’re teenagers. All you can ask is that they leave their hearts on the field and play as hard as they can, and that’s what they did.

“I can’t fault them for anything,” he said. 

“They played hard and we left everything on the field. We probably should have come out a little bit stronger at the beginning; those couple of mistakes cost us. But honestly, you have to score goals to win games, and you can’t always wait until the last second to do it. I can’t fault them for anything, though, because we’re the same team that beat the No. 1 team in 7A. We beat the No. 2 team in 7A on the road to this game. And really, I thought we were the better team tonight.”

Sam Albuquerque is the Sports Editor for the Orange Observer. Please contact him with story ideas, results and statistics.

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