District 1-7A soccer: Bartram Trail, Mandarin punch playoff tickets

Bartram Trail 1, Nease 0

Bartram Trail's defense kept the ball out of its net for about 80 minutes and five seconds Friday night.

Fortunately for the Bears, high school soccer is only an 80-minute game.

The Bears executed two crucial goal-line clearances in the last 30 seconds — and watched the final whistle blow before a potential Nease equalizer — to hold off the Panthers 1-0 in Friday's District 1-7A boys soccer semifinal at Mandarin.

"Our defense held strong the whole night," Bartram Trail coach Matthew Crowell said.

Miguel Angel Medina's 55th-minute goal, crushed into the roof of the net after a bounding left-wing cross, proved to be the difference.

"Honestly, I didn't think it was going to go through all the way," Medina said. "But it just happened to go through, and I was there."

Nease (10-5-3) battled to the finish — and slightly beyond.

On a last-minute scramble inside the box, Bartram Trail fullback Jackson Alligood had to lunge to clear a ball from the six-yard box. Then, from the ensuing Nease corner kick, Bears center back Connor Balog — guarding the far post — blocked a goal-bound Panther header on the goal line.

Immediately afterward came the final whistle, and a Nease shot that found the net some three to five seconds afterward was too late for the Panthers.

Bartram Trail dominated possession in most of the first half, with the central trio of Brady Johnson, Luke Williams and Anthony Fetyko helping to win the ball and pin Nease deep.

"We were able to win the battle of space nine times out of 10 in this game and be able to pressure high," Crowell said. "So their long ball isn't really effective when they're hitting it from their goal or from their [penalty area]."

Meanwhile, center backs Casey Cupit and Balog largely cut off the supply of passes to limit the damage from the elusive Nease strikers, Felipe Echeverri and Leo Caramagno.

The Bears had won the teams' prior meeting 5-0 in November.

"Nease has come a long way from where they were at the beginning of the season," Crowell said. "That was a good team that we beat."

Mandarin 1, Flagler Palm Coast 0

Longtime Mandarin head coach Jason Cooley saw plenty of room for improvement after the Mustangs' home district semifinal Friday night.

But the key result of the night remained simple: Survive and advance.

The Mustangs rode a first-half Amar Mesic goal and a stout defensive effort to defeat Flagler Palm Coast 1-0 Friday, clinching a postseason berth.

Despite an overwhelming possession edge for most of the night, Mesic's 27th-minute goal after an Adis Mesic free kick was the only tally for the Mustangs (14-3-1).

"The structure was there, the combination play was there, but the quality in the final third, the final pass, it wasn't good enough," Cooley said. "You've got to give them [FPC] credit. They defended really hard."

Flagler Palm Coast defended in numbers for most of the night, but several times threatened Mandarin on the counterattack through forwards Schmidt Joseph and Zach Hassell. 

Hassell drove a rocket off the post in the 41st minute for FPC's best chance of the night, and he raced through the defense to set up Joseph for a shot that zipped wide in the 73rd minute.

"That guy [Hassell] is one fantastic player," Cooley said. "He attacked us down the left flank and attacked us down the right in the first half, a really, really good player and dangerous."

Led by Adis Mesic and Antonio Mancinotti, Mandarin peppered the goal of the Bulldogs (7-14-2) with shots, but FPC keeper Justin Figueiredo held the Mustangs at bay.

"It's the story of our season," Cooley said. "We're either scoring in bunches or we're in a drought. We keep on trying to find a fix for it, a difference in our lineup to solve the problem, but we have yet to solve it.

"But we survive and advance."