Miracle Porter: uncommon skills

Palm Coast Observer
Sports

Matanzas soccer coach Tony Benvenuto first witnessed Miracle Porter play when she was 5 years old. He praised her, saying she was able to do things he hadn’t seen players in Italy do. Porter displayed a speed with the ball that was uncommon for her age, sharp, quick movements and an intuition that was better than a high school player.

Now, a sophomore at Matanzas with 144 goals over two seasons, Porter is currently on pace to break the all-time national record (286), held by Erin Martin of California, according to the National Federation of State High School Association record book.

When asked to define specifics of her talent, Benvenuto simply began by calling Porter’s skills “a gift from God.”

“She was born with them,” he added. “There are so many things Porter does that you can’t teach.”

In the district final against Seabreeze, Porter scored one of her goals by dribbling toward the corner of the field and kicking the ball across the face of the net and goalkeeper, a shot that’s difficult to convert at any soccer level.

“I know Miracle does a lot of training on her own,” Benvenuto said. “She wakes up early in the morning to train and run. What is so amazing about her is that she dribbles with the ball at the same speed most of the players sprint.”

Benvenuto described a play in which Porter had broken free of the defense, and when the goalkeeper ran out to block her, she was able to completely avoid the keeper’s entire body while managing control of the ball to put it in the net for a score.

“I coached her uncle, Chauncey Williams, and he would have her on the field practicing with the ball,” Benvenuto said. “I know she got a lot of her skills from him, because he was a good player.”

Andrea Sellers currently holds the Florida all-time scoring record with 229, which is the third on the NFHSA list. After breaking Matanzas’ school record in December 2014, Porter acknowledged that reaching these marks were some of her goals, but what she also wanted to do was beat Flagler Palm Coast High School, which Matanzas hasn’t with her, and win a state championship.

BOX: Bella Benvenuto saves 11 in Region final loss

The Lady Pirates fell to the Land O’ Lakes Gators 1-0 in the Region 2-3A Championship Friday Jan. 30, in Land O’ Lakes.

Matanzas (24-3-2) was uncharacteristically outshot by 20-1 attempts, with Miracle Porter playing. Due to stingy defense and a heavy offense, the only chance the Lady Pirates had of keeping the score close was great goalkeeper play by Bella Benvenuto, who finished the match with 11 saves.

In last year’s region final against the Gators, Benvenuto also was credited with being the biggest difference, blocking 12 shots to help Matanzas win 1-0.

“I was aware that it was the seniors’ last attempt at making it to the championship, so I really wanted to step up,” Benvenuto said. “I also believe that big time players have to step up in these kinds of games, so that’s what I tried to do.”

Coach Tony Benvenuto said that Land O’ Lakes would have won 5-0, had not Bella Benvenuto played such a stellar game at goalkeeper. Benvenuto finished the season with 177 saves (ninth in nation), 17 shutouts and 0.8 goals against average, all area bests.