Gallery: Buchholz Defeats Forest 3-2

Forest’s Jenna Maiorino (9) tries to head the ball and gets kicked in the ribs by Buchholz’ Cam Hayes (6) during a soccer match at Forest High School in Ocala, Fla. on Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2023. Buchholz won the match 3-2. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2023.

The Buchholz Bobcats (9-9) beat the Forest Wildcats (13-5-2)  3-2 to capture the girls’ soccer Class 6A District-4 tournament championship on Tuesday night.

It is the second consecutive district tournament championship for head coach Bryan Hantak and his program.

“It wasn’t pretty, but we just muscled through it. We’ve had a lot of injuries and illness, so players are starting to come back, and they are not 100 percent. We played with incredible heart, and we had about 10 minutes of craziness, but they regained their composure to make things happen and I’m very proud of them,” Hantak said.

Neither team made a threat on the goal until the 20-minute mark in the first half when Forest forward Janellie Castillo had a penalty kick opportunity that was snuffed out on a diving save by the goalie.

Buchholz opened the scoring in the 30^th minute on a breakaway goal by junior forward Zoe Torres, it was her 15^th goal of the season.

Forest got a pair of solid chances to tie the game with the shots on goal but both ended up wide of the net. Buchholz answered with a second breakaway goal from senior Kelisha Andre in the final moments of the first half to give Buchholz a 2-0 lead.

The situation was looking dire for Forest until the 20-minute mark in the second half. The Wildcats offense came to life as Castillo scored on a beautiful goal on the run for her 12^th score of the season.

Just 20 seconds later on a penalty kick, junior Klarissa Zawosky picked up her third goal of the season to tie the game at two with 20 minutes left.

With just over 10 minutes left in regulation, Buchholz senior Emily Sipple scored her first goal of the season at the most opportune time from 20 yards out to give Buchholz a 3-2 lead.

“I saw that they weren’t covering me and I got really excited. I saw the ball rolling to me and thought to kick it hard and keep it on the ground,” Sipple said.

Forest had one more great opportunity to tie the game with about four minutes left after the Buchholz goalie chased the ball out and left an open net. Caroline Cook made a solid kick but senior Jordan Pfaff came up with a clutch save with her legs to block the shot.

“We talk all the time in practice about soccer IQ. Her awareness to see that play developing and get back was high soccer IQ. She did a great job and she saved us,” Hantak said.

Forest got back to the offensive side of the field but could not get another shot on goal as Buchholz held on for the win. A fantastic season ended in heartbreak for the Wildcats but there is excitement towards next season as they will return 11 players from this year’s roster.

As for Buchholz, the postseason is just beginning as they await their state playoff matchup for next week.

“We got to get healthy and make sure our practices are high intensity. This is just the first step for us and is not our end goal. Last year we made it to the sweet 16, we’d like to make it back there and see what happens. We are thankful for this win because both sides played great,” Hantak said.