Lely’s magic ride ends

South Fort Myers beats Lely in regionals

South Fort Myers' boys soccer team advances ...

Photo by ROGER LALONDE

Lely's Jamie Clark (7) celebrates after scoring the tying goal in the regional game against South Fort Myers. It turned out to be the Trojans only goal in its 3-1 defeat.

Photo by ROGER LALONDE, Staff

The ball gets by Lely goalie Manuel Romero for a goal as the Trojans lose to South Fort Myers 3-1 in regional quarterfinal action.

Photo by ROGER LALONDE, Staff

South Fort Myers players (red shirts) hounded Luis Ambriz, Lely's leading scorer in tournament play, not allowing him a chance to score a goal, which helped the Wolfpack to a 3-1 win over Lely in the regional quarterfinal on Thursday.

Photo by ROGER LALONDE, Staff

Heads were down after the Lely soccer team met defeat at the hands of South Fort Myers in the quarterfinal of regional play, 3-1. Coach Rob Schank, center, told the boys that they may have lost the game, but they came farther than most anyone had expected in winning the district championship.

The magical ride ended for the Lely soccer team in a 3-1 loss in a region quarterfinal, but it did not dilute what the Trojans did, or how their future looks.

Going into the Class 4A-District 12 playoffs Lely was 6-8-5. Because of its record Lely needed three straight wins for the title. The Trojans downed Immokalee, 3-0 and moved into the semi-final match-up against heavily favored Golden Gate.

Lely didn’t even score a goal in two shutout losses to Golden Gate in the regular season, but the magic ride began. In a hard-fought contest, the teams ended in a 2-2 tie in regulation. In two overtimes, neither team scored, forcing a shootout.

Luis Ambriz scored Lely’s first point in the shootout, then donned the goalie gloves, holding the Titans to just one point while Lely scored three times to win. Seniors Ben Noncent and Jamie Clark scored the other points, with Clark’s sealing the victory.

In the title game, Lely trailed 2-0, but scored twice in the final 12 minutes for another tie in regulation. Then it was Ambriz again, scoring in the first 10-minute overtime to give Lely its first title since 2003.

After the title game, coach Rob Schank said that no one believed the Trojans could win, let alone get by Golden Gate.

“They learned they should never count us out,” he said. “We will take this magic carpet ride as long as we can.”

In the region quarterfinal, South Fort Myers, which had won 18 games this season, scored first in less than four minutes. But five minutes later Clark blasted a shot from close in to tie the game.

South Fort Myers scored again before the half ended, taking a 2-1 lead. The Wolfpack increased the lead to 3-1 when the Trojans didn’t clear the ball and left a point blank shot for a score.

The Trojans actually dominated the game, but as Schank said, “You have to put the ball into the back of the net. We out shot them 14-6, but we made mistakes that gave them the win. Sometimes the hard work doesn’t show in the results.”

Eddy Castillo, a Lely assistant coach, said the team shouldn’t be down. “They turned this season from nothing to something,” he said. “They beat Golden Gate, something my team didn’t do when I played (in the past three years). With all the underclassmen on the team this was a win situation. We weren’t supposed to be here.”

Schank praised his two senior starters, Noncent and Clark.

“They showed great leadership,” he said. “We lost our top scorer in Gerry Reyes and with injuries we had people that had to play different positions. They helped hold the team together, giving advice and showing by example. Off the field they also lead by having nearly 4.0 grade-point averages.”

With a JV team that went 14-2-2 and most of the varsity returning, Schank will have 31 players with experience when the next season opens.

“I like our chances for few years to come,” he said.