- April 18, 2024
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Aiden Sauco almost quit soccer two years ago. Now he's a team leader. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Matanzas players huddle around the trophy Feb. 2 after winning the district title for the second year in a row. Courtesy photo by Fatima Barham
The Pirates pose for a team photo with their district championship trophy. Courtesy photo by Sarah Cusato
Aiden Sauco celebrates the Pirates' district semifinal win against Clay, which they won in the final minute two days before the district final. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Like his team’s roller coaster adventures over the past few years, Aiden Sauco’s high school soccer career has had its ups and downs.
But never has the ride been so out of control for Sauco and his Matanzas teammates as in last week’s district championship game.
“It was a crazy game,” Sauco said of the Pirates’ 3-2 overtime victory on Feb. 2 against Pedro Menendez. In five words, Sauco summed up an epic that had more plot twists than “War and Peace.”
Nick Ferrer put the Pirates on his back when they were forced to play with 10 men.
“When we were down a player, Nick dropped back 40 yards (to help the defense) and then he’d go up 40 yards to attack,” Matanzas coach Beto Aguilar said.
Ferrer scored the go-ahead goal in overtime, and the undermanned Pirates held on for the rest of the two extra periods to win their second straight district title and earn the right to host a Region 1-5A quarterfinal against Fort Walton Beach Choctawhatchee on Feb. 9.
But before they could accept the trophy and celebrate the district championship, they had to weather a tense second half, which was especially frustrating for Sauco.
After the Pirates took a 2-0 halftime lead on goals by Ferrer and Joseph “Fuji” Powell, the host Falcons cut the margin to 2-1 on a set piece.
Immediately after the goal, Sauco received a yellow card. He said the Falcons were trying to take the ball away from goalkeeper Ben Kopach after the score.
“They were kicking at him, pushing him to the ground, so I grabbed one of the kids and I pushed him into the back of the net to get him off our goalkeeper,” he said.
Sauco later got a second yellow card for delaying the game when the referee judged he took too long on a throw-in. That resulted in a blue card, requiring him to sit out the rest of the game and the Pirates to play a man down.
Sauco has come a long way after nearly quitting the team as a sophomore. He began his freshman season on varsity, went down to JV and then was brought back up for the end of the season. He expected to start his sophomore season on varsity but wound up back on JV.
“I played JV the whole season, and that made me really upset,” he said. “I wasn’t really showing up to any practices or anything. I fell out of love with the sport. And then junior year, we won districts and I fell back in love with the sport.”
“... Being put in that position where we couldn’t play, that made the seniors upset, and that made me as a junior more hungry than ever to do better next year, which is now.”
AIDEN SAUCO
The joy of winning district last year came crashing down when a positive COVID test forced Matanzas to forfeit its regional quarterfinal.
“Last year, when we won, it was a feeling I never felt before, and being put in that position where we couldn’t play, that made the seniors upset, and that made me as a junior more hungry than ever to do better next year, which is now,” he said.
But sitting on the bench at Menendez, watching his team play without him, without even a replacement for him, all he could do was hope that there would be another game to play.
“It was rough watching my team go through that,” he said.
It didn't get easier after the Falcons tied the game on another set piece.
Matanzas made it through regulation without allowing a go-ahead goal and then adjusted its defense for overtime.
After Ferrer’s go-ahead score, the Pirates were so excited, the whole team celebrated on the field, and the referees proceeded to hand out yellow cards to seven of Matanzas’ 10 players.
All seven had to leave the pitch momentarily. They were replaced by players who had not had a chance to warm up. But the yellow-carded players got back in at the next Pirates’ throw-in, and the defense held.
Sauco is the only senior starter on defense, playing alongside two freshmen. The freshmen made their leader proud on this night.
“From where he started, it could have gone the other way for him. But he was able to turn it around.”
BETO AGUILAR, Matanzas coach on senior Aiden Sauco
“Usually they’re phenomenal,” Sauco said of left back Vince Ferrer and center back Kai Bonner. “I love how they play. They really do listen. They take what I say, and they use it to their advantage.”
Although Sauco was forced to sit out part of the district championship game, he’s made the most of his senior season.
“From where he started, it could have gone the other way for him,” Aguilar said. “But he was able to turn it around.”
“We’re blessed to be in this position to win districts back-to-back,” Sauco said. “When we were a man down, it was looking rough, but we fought through it and we won.”
