DADE CITY – On Wednesday night, Nature Coast boys soccer coach Ian Wald talked about his team’s three goals for the season.
There was winning a district championship, earning the first-ever regional victory and one he refused to mention. Two nights later, he admitted that third goal was to defeat Pasco for the first time ever.
He could make that reveal following Friday’s Class 3A, District 7 final on the Pirates’ home field, when his squad dominated from start to finish in a 3-0 triumph.
“We’re thrilled,” Wald said. “I just didn’t want to give them bulletin-board material (on Wednesday). We’re glad to get the first-ever win against them. On their pitch in districts just makes it a little bit sweeter. Got revenge for last year’s district final. We wanted to make sure we were ready to play. We had a game plan, we stuck to it and the boys fought hard.
“That’s the caliber of play we’re capable of. So, it was good to not pucker up in the finals and actually execute it.”
This marked the Sharks’ (15-5-4) second district title, after winning in 2015 before losing to Pasco (15-5-1) in the 2016 3A-7 final, 6-3. They host River Ridge in a regional quarterfinal next Wednesday at 7 p.m.
“Our next goal is to win the first-ever (regional) playoff game. So, we put ourselves in a good position to be at home against River Ridge, so it’s a runner-up,” Wald said. “We know River Ridge is going to be a really difficult opponent. They beat us last time we won districts. Last time we won districts, we played River Ridge at home and they beat us in PKs (penalty kicks). So, we’ll be looking for a little bit of revenge there, and I guess that’s kind of what we’re doing right now.”
Nature Coast, seeded second, had lost to the top-seeded Pirates, 2-1 back on Nov. 9, and tied them 0-0 on Dec. 14. This time around, the Sharks owned possession and took the pressure off early.
Vinny Stulec started off the scoring with a goal in the 22nd minute, assisted by Gilbert Delgado. Hunter Reid made it 2-0, cashing in on a pass from Chris Reckner in the 28th minute.
“We talk about jumping on the scoreboard early, and we missed three straight chances early on. I’m thinking, ‘This is going to come back to haunt us.’ But then we didn’t miss the fourth,” Wald said. “We knew once we got the ball rolling, we could score goals in some pretty good chunks.
“I challenged the backs and the goalie (Brian Urling) a few games ago. I said, ‘If we’re going to win this thing it’s going to be because of you guys.’ They’ve slowly gotten better and better, and tonight they got a shutout. So, they’re the players of the game.”
Stulec scored for a second time, off a pass from Jaxsen Soto, in the 46th minute and the defense did the rest. Urling needed to make just three saves.
For Stulec, that matched the pair of goals he scored in the semifinal win over Weeki Wachee on Wednesday. It also increased his new single-season school record to 22.
“Last year, it was heartbreaking losing in the finals. It’s good to be back on top,” Stulec said. “The first goal, Gil Delgado, he played a cross to me. I took a touch, I picked my head up and I just buried it far post. … The third goal, we drew a corner and then Jaxen Soto crossed it in, and I just buried it.
“I had a goal of breaking the record for the most goals scored for Nature Coast, and I accomplished that this week.”
Now the Sharks can turn their attention to checking off that final goal and seeing how far they can advance into the postseason.
“First, we’ve got to focus on practice,” Stulec said. “We’ve got to give it everything we’ve got, play hard and when the time comes we’ll be ready to play.”
Follow Chris Bernhardt Jr. on Twitter @cpbernhardtjr.