The Celebration Storm (8-0-4) wrapped up another Orange Belt Conference boys soccer title Thursday night with a 5-0 win over Tohopekaliga.
The victory gave Celebration a 6-0-1 mark in conference play, and was the Storm’s first OBC title since winning three straight from 2017-19.
The Storm dominated play early, getting seven shots on goal In the first 15 minutes of the game but the score remained 0-0 thanks to several sensational saves by Tigers goalie Sebastian Maldonaldo. Celebration finally broke through in the 21st minute as Julio D’Lima took a feed from Edgar Marquez and planted the ball in the corner of the net. That goal opened the flood gates as Celebration would score two more goals in the next two minutes. Midfielder Sebastian Ramis slammed in a shot from distance and striker Mohammed Raky added a goal at the 16:54 mark to extend the lead to 3-0.
Celebration kept the pressure on when Raky got a breakaway at 1:24 mark to make it 4-0 at the half. The Storm totally dominated possession in the first half, getting 15 total shots on goal and playing almost the entire first half in Tohopekaliga’s defensive end of the field.
“At the beginning of the game, I was wondering if we were even going to score,” Storm Coach Chad Boudreaux said. “We were putting all sorts of pressure on them and their goalie just made great save after great save. It happens like that in soccer. “The most dangerous part of the game is the two minutes after the first goal is scored. A lot of times the team that scores that goal will add a second or third one in a hurry. Fortunately we were able to do that.”
Francisco Nouer would tack on the final goal of the game for Celebration, taking a rebound and putting it between the Maldonaldo’s legs at the 35-minute mark.
With the big lead, Celebration would substitute freely in the second half, getting quality minutes for their second and third line players. Although the Tigers would control possession for most of the second half, they did not get a shot on goal until the 25th minute.
Overall, Celebration outshot Tohopekaliga (7-6-2) putting 24 shots on goal to just four for the Tigers. It was the ninth shutout on the season for the Storm.
The Storm finish the regular season on Friday night on the road against a good Timber Creek (10-3-2) squad. It will be just the third game for Celebration since they beat Harmony back on Dec. 12.
“It would have been nice to get a few more games in before districts, but it’s just the way the schedule fell. We did play some good teams in January, so it should help us get ready for the district playoffs,” Boudreaux said.
District play begins Wednesday, with Celebration playing in Class 7A, District 5 with Dr. Phillips (12-2-1), Haines City (6-8-3), Olympia (8-6-3) and Windermere (8-5-2). The district winner automatically advances to regional play with the next four highest ranked teams in the regional also advancing to the eight-team regional. The Storm played two of the district opponents in the regular season, defeating Windermere (3-2) and tying Olympia (1-1).
