Varela Boys Soccer Clinches Berth in Class 6A final

TAMPA -- Alejandro Rodriguez missed one of the easiest shots in soccer – a penalty kick – in the 17th minute.

The Varela senior forward won’t have to replay the miss in his dreams after all.

Rodriguez got redemption in the form of a 67th-minute goal from a much more difficult angle, powering his Vipers to a 2-1 win against Port Orange Spruce Creek in a Class 6A state semifinal in Pepin Stadium on Friday afternoon.

“Everyone makes mistakes,” Rodriguez said. “What makes a difference is the mental toughness – the way you bounce back from things.”

Varela dominated possession and had a wealth of chances to score, but despite their better play the Vipers (21-3-3) found themselves tied at 1-1 when the Hawks (26-5-1) capitalized on their first shot.

The match didn’t stay tied for long.

Eight minutes after Hawks forward Jagger Lieb tied the game, Rodriguez showed his mental toughness when he scored the game-winner.

Rodriguez took a pass from Simon Rodriguez, cut toward the net, moved a couple yards out of the end line and gave himself just enough of an angle to shoot.

The ball went high over Hawks goalie Roshan Patel’s arms, and the Vipers had their winning goal.

“One of the things that we talked about was these are the kinds of games where you are going to make mistakes,” Vipers coach J.C. Gonzalez said. “I told the guys that we had plenty of time, we had the momentum in the game. I was confident.”

The Vipers now get their chance to win the school’s first state title since 2008. They will play either Weston Cypress Bay or Clearwater Countryside in the championship game Saturday at 7:05 p.m.

Early on, never appeared in doubt. Varela barely let Spruce Creek into an attacking position, and a penalty kick before the first-half water break seemed to validate the Vipers’ superiority.

Diego Hurtado took a shot that Spruce Creek’s Tyler Kameh handled inside the penalty box, but Alejandro Rodriguez’s slow shot to the right was saved by Patel.

But three minutes into the second half, Varela finally made good on their efforts thanks to a rocket of a shot by David Cuervo. The senior, with only two goals on the year, fired a blast into Patel’s arm.

Patel got enough on the ball to slow it down, but the momentum still carried it slowly into the net off the left post.

“[Cuervo’s] got the hardest shot you’ve ever seen,” Gonzalez said. “All season long we tried to set him up, and it hasn’t happened. When he hit that ball today, we were like, ‘Wow, he finally got it on frame.’ The keeper was all over it, but that was such a hard shot.”

A foul just 25 yards from the Vipers’ net set up Spruce Creek’s goal.

Lieb took the free kick around the left side of the four-man wall and hooked the ball right inside the left post. Varela keeper Damian Lewis stood and watched the ball fly past him into the twine.


“He was set up for a right-footed kick, and he changed it to a left,” Lewis said. “I wasn’t expecting that shot.”



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