By: J. Daniel Pearson for Positively Osceola
Anyelo Castellano scored a second half equalizer and goalie Chris Vargas came up with a key stop in penalty kicks as the Celebration Storm (11-2-2) advanced to the FHSAA Region 3 Championship with a 1-1 (5-3 penalty kicks) win over Olympic Heights on Friday night.
The win propels the Storm into the Wednesday night region championship game at Boca Raton (21-0-2) in a rematch of last year’s regional final won by Boca. 2-1. Kickoff is 7 p.m.
It was a solid come-from-behind win by the Storm, who fell behind 1-0 in the first half at the 25’ mark. Olympic Heights attackers got behind the Celebration defense and although Vargas made a solid save on the first hard shot, the rebound came out to Dylan Trachtenberg, who put it in the net for his team-leading 13th goal of the season.
The Storm Celebration almost tied the score two minutes later, as Lions goalie Antonio Andrade blocked a hard shot from distance that then hit the top of the crossbar before falling on the goal line where he scooped it up before it totally crossed the line. The Storm had one final chance to knot the game before halftime as Castellano had a breakaway, but Andrade came off the line to grab the ball before he could get a shot off.
Castelano’s heroics would tie the game in the second half. After the Lions blocked a shot out front, Castellano found the ball at his foot on the right side and buried it inside the far post to tie the game at 1-1.
The goaltending by Vargas kept Celebration in the game. He would come up big several times in the second half to force overtime. With 18 minutes remaining, Cristian Romero had a header off a corner kick that Vargas saved. Three minutes later, Vargas blocked a Trachtenberg blast from the front of the net and then made a diving stop on the subsequent rebound.
Celebration also had a chance to win in regulation but Castellano’s hard shot from right side just missed going in on the far post – bouncing hard off the frame before being cleared by Olympic Heights defenders.
It was goaltending play again that saved the day for Celebration in overtime, but it was not Vargas who starred. With seven minutes remaining in the second overtime period, Vargas picked up a yellow card after colliding with an Olympic Heights attacker just outside of the box. The play forced Vargas out of the game until the next dead ball. He was replaced by senior David Bracamonte, who had to come in cold and face a free kick from just outside the box. Trahvens Octave blasted the free kick to the far right post, but Bracamonte deflected the ball for the save. He would then come up with a second save off the ensuing corner.
“I just love that kid, he is one of my favorite players I ever coached. He works so hard in practice and could be a starter for a lot of teams,” Storm coach Chad Broudeaux said of Bracamonte. “We have a lot of confidence in him so it wasn’t a surprise to me that he made those big stops in that situation.”
Bracamonte’s heroics kept the game tied to set up the shootout.
With the Storm shooting first, Castellano buried the ball in the left corner for 1-0 advantage. Vargas followed with a terrific stop on Trachtenberg blast to keep the lead. Josa Mora, Santiago Garcia and Daniel Marquez each converted on the next three shots for the Storm, but they were matched by three consecutive makes by the Lions. Jose Dlima would then win the game with shot in the right corner of the net to beat Andrade and send the Storm to the next round.
After the game. Boudreaux praised the play of his entire team and especially Vargas, who has allowed just three goals in the Storm’s current 10-game winning streak. “Overall, I thought we played well against a really good team. They knew our soft sports and attacked accordingly in the first half. Our players figured it out and made second half adjustments,” Boudreaux said. “I’ve said it before and will say it again, I truly believe Christopher is the best goalie in the state and he showed it again tonight.”
