Make it a clean sweep for Ponte Vedra High and soccer district titles this season, as both the boys and girls teams won their respective District 3-6A championships on back-to-back days.
“Now we have all eyes on a state championship, and we’re looking forward to it,” Ponte Vedra junior Andres Villasana said.
The Sharks first claimed the girls district title following a 2-1 victory over Fletcher Feb. 1 on their home field in front of their faithful fans.
It was the second straight 2-1 win for the Sharks after they defeated rival Nease by that score in the district semifinal.
The squad outscored its opponents 15-2 during the tournament en route to maintaining its current run of five consecutive district championships.
However, the fun did not end there as the Sharks’ boys soccer team continued the success with a commanding 3-0 win over Fleming Island the very next night Feb. 2.
A large crowd of supporters made the trip to tournament host Fletcher High School and watched the Sharks play some of their best soccer of the year both offensively and on defense.
“I think we’ve grown a lot,” Ponte Vedra boys head coach Daniel Villarreal said. “Obviously, we’ve got 15 seniors, which is the most we’ve ever had in the 14 years I’ve been here, so that really helps. They laid the groundwork at the beginning of the season and the underclassmen have followed.”
One of those seniors is Cade Greenwald, who scored a pair of goals in the first half to give the Sharks a 2-0 halftime lead.
“Anytime I score, I just feel so excited, but in this game, it was at another level,” Greenwald said.
He scored his first goal in the 28th minute on a header after making a perfectly timed run in the box on a corner kick by Jonathan Luce.
“That was my first header of my entire life, because I’m a little shorter than most,” Greenwald chuckled.
Five minutes later, that same combination proved to be dangerous once again as Luce sent a shot across that deflected off the gloves of the Fleming Island goalie and Greenwald buried the rebound in the back of the net to put the Sharks up by two.
Will Sheehan stood tall in the net for the Sharks all game long and made several saves, including a couple where he had to dive to his right or left and make sprawling saves.
The defense was also on point for the Sharks throughout the night, especially senior Michael Hilbert, who seemed to be everywhere on the field and did a nice job of cancelling potential runs past midfield by the Senators.
“We call them ‘the platoon,’ because they don’t let up ever,” Greenwald said. “They’re always there when we need them.”
The shutout is just the latest stellar performance from the defense, which has not allowed more than two goals in a contest all season.
“We preach to them that it doesn’t matter how many goals you score, you have to defend,” Villarreal said. “This time of year, when you get into the playoffs, you’ve got to be able to do the things that you need to do to keep the score sheet at zero, and they take pride in it.”
Villasana increased the Sharks lead for good with a goal in the 55th minute after he made a beautiful run into the box and headed in a precision pass from senior Jake McGowan.
It was an emotional night for the Sharks, especially for the 15 seniors on the team, after falling short in the district title game last year.
“It means a lot to do it for all these seniors,” Villasana said.
