A few days after the girls’ soccer team captured the District 3 title, the Ponte Vedra boys’ soccer team duplicated the feat by defeating Matanzas for the boys’ title. The Sharks had to win a pair of road games in Orange Park to earn the title.
They first took on Ridgeview last Wednesday evening and dispatched the Panthers 8-0 scoring six goals in the first half. Michael Bennett provided the bulk of the scoring for the Sharks with five goals. Johnny Stephens, Nick Kostrubsky and Jack Bingemann added the other goals for Ponte Vedra.
Friday night the Sharks faced Matanzas in the title game and earned a hard fought 6-2 victory. Kostrubsky put the Sharks in front at the 25-minute mark then Bennett added a goal at the 7-minute mark to put Ponte Vedra up 2-0 at the break.
Two minutes into the second half the Pirates scored to cut the Sharks’ margin to 2-1but minutes later, Munir Adamo’s goal two minutes gave the Sharks some breathing room at 3-1.
Stephens made it 4-1 at the 32-minute mark but Ponte Vedra was not out of the woods yet. Matanzas scored on a direct kick to close the gap to 4-2 near the midway point of the half.
Neither team could mount a score for the next twenty minutes, until an errant header by the Pirates in front of their keeper wound up in their own goal to push the Shark lead to 5-2. Jack Bingemann’s header in the final seconds of the game sent the Sharks home with the title.
The Sharks will play Stanton at home on Thurs., Jan. 28 at 7 p.m. Earlier in the season, the Sharks defeated Stanton 4-3.
