The brackets for this year’s Florida High School Athletic Association boys and girls state soccer tournaments are filled with many teams from the western communities.
Locally, a key competition is the boys bracket for the FHSAA’s Class 7A, Region 3, which features Royal Palm Beach High School (14-4-4), Wellington High School (9-5-2) and Palm Beach Central High School (10-3-3) — all longtime rivals from the same district.
Royal Palm Beach earned an automatic bid into the Class 7A tournament by defeating Palm Beach Central 2-1 in the district final on Thursday, Feb. 2. Wellington and Palm Beach Central earned at-large bids into the tournament based on their high positions in the FHSAA Power Rankings.
Despite the fact that Royal Palm Beach won the district tournament, the Wildcats were the lowest-seeded team (No. 8) in Class 7A, Region 3. The Wildcats’ quarterfinal was at top-seeded Boca Raton High School (19-4).
The Wellington High School Wolverines, the No. 5 seed, faced the Lions from Olympic Heights High School (10-8-4), the No. 4 seed. This was a re-match of the Nov. 18 regular season game between both schools, which was played to a scoreless tie.
The Palm Beach Central Broncos, which reached the Class 7A state semifinals last year, are the No. 6 seed this year. The Broncos played their regional quarterfinal at No. 3-seeded Spanish River High School (15-4-1) in Boca Raton.
All Class 7A, Region 3 boys quarterfinal matches were played on Wednesday, Feb. 8, but results were not available at press time.
In each case, the winners would advance to the Class 7A, Region 3 semifinals on Saturday, Feb. 11. If both Royal Palm Beach and Wellington win their respective quarterfinal games, they will face one another in the semifinal. The two semifinal winners will meet in the Class 7A, Region 3 final on Wednesday, Feb. 15.
The Class 7A state final game will be held at Spec Martin Stadium in Deland on Saturday, Feb. 25.
The boys Class 2A field includes the Berean Christian School Bulldogs, which won their District 13 tournament against Trinity Christian Academy on Jan. 13. That game went to penalty kicks, after being tied 2-2 following regulation and extra time. Berean prevailed 4-3 on penalty kicks. By virtue of their district win, the sixth-seeded Bulldogs (10-5-2) hosted Miami’s Riviera Prep (9-2-1) at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 8. The result of that game was not available at press time. Berean’s ultimate goal is to reach the FHSAA’s Class 2A state final game in Deland on Thursday, Feb. 23.
In girls soccer, the teams from Wellington High School, Seminole Ridge High School, Glades Day School, the King’s Academy and Berean Christian School advanced to the regional tournaments in their own classes. Wellington (Class 7A), Seminole Ridge (Class 6A) and Glades Day School (Class 3A) won their own postseason district tournaments. TKA (Class 3A) and Berean Christian (Class 2A) earned at-large bids based on their FHSAA Power Rankings.
Wellington hosted the Lions from Olympic Heights High School in a Class 7A, Region 3 quarterfinal on Tuesday, Feb. 7. Wellington defeated Olympic Heights 1-0. With that victory, Wellington (10-3-2) will host Treasure Coast High School (10-5-1) in the regional semifinal on Friday, Feb. 10. The Class 7A girls state soccer final will be held in Deland on Friday, Feb. 24.
When Seminole Ridge defeated William T. Dwyer High School 1-0 on Wednesday, Feb. 1 to win the district tournament, it was the first-ever district tournament title for the Seminole Ridge girls soccer program. It was also Seminole Ridge’s 10th-straight victory.
On Tuesday, Feb. 7, Seminole Ridge hosted Martin County High School (10-3-1) in the regional quarterfinal. Seminole Ridge improved its record to 17-0-2 with its 11th-straight win, a 2-0 triumph against the visiting Tigers. Now, the Hawks will host Dwyer (10-4-2) in the regional semifinal on Friday, Feb. 10. The Class 6A girls state soccer final will be held in Deland on Friday, Feb. 24.
On Tuesday, Feb. 7, TKA traveled to play Cardinal Newman High School (9-6-2). TKA was seeded fifth, and Newman was seeded fourth. The TKA Lions (10-5-1) won 3-0 in their regional quarterfinal. Next, TKA plays at the Benjamin School (13-0-1) on Friday, Feb. 10 in the regional semifinal.
On Tuesday, Feb. 7, in the Class 2A, Region 4 bracket, Wellington resident Hana Lohmann, a senior at Glades Day School and the leading goal scorer in high school soccer in Palm Beach County this season, led sixth-seeded Glades Day to a 3-1 victory in its regional quarterfinal against third-seeded Miami’s Archbishop Carroll (11-2). Lohmann scored her 63rd and 64th goals of the season in that win. Now, the Gators (17-5-1) play True North Classical Academy (12-3) at Kendall Soccer Park in Miami in the Class 2A, Region 4 semifinal on Friday, Feb. 10.
On Tuesday, Feb. 7, eighth-seeded Berean traveled to Weston to play the South Florida Heat (16-6-2), the top seed in Class 2A, Region 4. In that regional quarterfinal, South Florida Heat (17-6-2) prevailed 8-0, which ended Berean’s season at 11-8.
The Class 2A girls state soccer final will be held in Deland on Wednesday, Feb. 22.
