Maclay Boys Soccer Team Punch Ticket to State Tournament Finals

On Feb. 27, the Maclay Marauders (19-1-2) took on the Tampa Prep Terrapins (15-3-1) in the State Semifinals of the FHSAA 2A State tournament. These two teams met once during the regular season with the Terrapins handing Maclay their only loss of the season on Jan. 17. Coming into the state tournament, Maclay was ranked 15th in the state and was seeded 3rd after making the final four while Tampa Prep was ranked 11th in the state and was seeded 2nd after making the final four.

At the start of the first half both teams made it clear that it was going to be a low scoring match. There were a handful of meaningful runs by both teams but they ultimately went into halftime scoreless.

At the beginning of the second half you could tell that both offenses were creating better chances and that it was only a matter of time until the first goal of the game was scored. That goal came from the foot of Luke Daunt (Jr.) as he made solid contact with a pass from Zac Scovotto (Sr.) putting the ball in the back of the net from outside of the box. With this goal the Marauders went up 1-0 with 16:20 left in the match.

Trying to hold on to the 1-0 lead, Maclay keeper Max Colon (Jr.) made a crucial one on one save outside of the box to avoid the equalizer. After the tackle Colon remained down and the Maclay defense had to stop the Terrapins attack without a goal keeper. After a couple of blocked shots, Maclay safely cleared the ball and was able to make a personnel change, subbing out the injured Colon.

The Maclay defense held on for the last five minutes beating Tampa Prep 1-0 and advancing to the FHSAA 2A State Finals on Mar. 1 at 4:00 PM.