The boys’ varsity soccer team celebrated a historic win on Sat. Feb. 12 as they advance to the regional championship after beating West Shore High School in overtime with a score of 3-2. This victory means the boys will have a chance to win the regional finals and advance to states for the first time in 30 years.

One of the three gaols was scored by senior Ryan Hendi with 7 minutes left in the second half of the game. The other two were scored by senior and one of the captains of the team Marco Chojnacki; one was scored  with 4 minutes left in the second half to tie up the score, and the other 5 minutes into overtime.

Chojnacki, an attacking midfielder, said that he has tried to be helpful as a leader to the team. 

“I have striven to lead our team to help each other and to believe that we can all get the job done through teamwork. I think our bond off the field has been a huge contributor to our success,” he said. Chojnacki recently won Athlete of the Week which was awarded to him by the Palm Beach Post. 

A significant amount of students supported the team on Saturday night, inclidong junior Teddy Burt.

“I went to watch my brother Tristan, but the game was exhilarating, I had my sixth and seventh Diet Pepsi as I watched Benjamin persevere and win. I am so happy we won because the other team was musty,” said Burt. 

Benjamin is seeded first moving forward, so the team has high hopes. Senior and captain Jake Zur is confident in the team’s success.

“I think we have a really good chance of winning the regional finals and advancing to state semis which is really exciting. We have worked especially hard this year to advance as far as possible, and our dedication is clearly paying off. In our next practices, we are just going to focus on the title we are up for and how we can win it” he said.

When asked about Saturday’s game, Chojnacki things the victory was a group effort that was possible because of several contributions.

“Honestly, I want to give a lot of credit to Ryan Hendi because he scored the first goal and assisted me on the second. I scored the second and third goals, but I dont think that was my greatest contribution. I would say it would be rallying the team in the huddles. Because of how excited we were, we were able to keep up our energy which allowed us to come back in the secon d half,” said Chojnacki. 

Next, the team will face Holy Trinity Espiscopal Academy on Wed. Feb. 16 at 7:00pm away in Melbourne. Holy Trinity beat Edgewood Academy 5-4 in penalty kicks to be able to advance. The Pharcyde wishes the best of luck to the boys’ soccer team as they advance throughout the playoffs.