Fourth-seeded Ascend Leadership Academy made program history Thursday night, advancing to the third round of the boys soccer state playoffs for the first time with a dominant 9-0 victory over No. 13 Discovery Charter.
The Aviators wasted little time taking control, scoring four first-half goals before adding five more in the second half to secure the shutout.
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“This is something that we’ve worked on in practice, too. Our last real conference game was CCA, and we lost 2-0, and one thing I told them was we didn’t warm up the way that we were ready to play,” Ascend head coach Michael Carter said. “We started at the whistle, and we played the entire game with that intensity and that intention.”
Landon Dartt opened the scoring early to give Ascend a 1-0 lead. Victor Gonzalez followed with a goal to make it 2-0 before Dartt struck again to extend the advantage to 3-0.
A defensive miscommunication by Discovery Charter resulted in an own goal, giving the Aviators a 4-0 halftime lead.
Ascend continued its offensive surge in the second half, with Dartt scoring twice on consecutive possessions to push the lead to 6-0. The Aviators added three more goals to complete the shutout.
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Dartt finished with four goals and two assists to lead Ascend. Deven Robles, Gonzalez, Landon Tarazon and Kaycen Rettig each added a goal. Six Aviators recorded assists, while goalkeeper Adam Mohammed made three saves.
“Honestly, it just might have been the feeling we had because last time we came to the playoffs, we lost to an unlucky goal, and this year we wanted to get it back and wanted to get back the right way,” Dartt said.
With the victory, Ascend advances to Monday’s third-round matchup against fifth-seeded Central Carolina Academy, a familiar conference rival.
Discovery Charter finished its season at 3-11.
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SOUTHERN LEE FALLS TO JACKSONVILLE
In other boys soccer playoff action, Southern Lee’s season came to an end with a 4-2 road loss to Jacksonville.
Jesus Ulloa Segundo and David Macias scored for the Cavaliers, who finished the season with a 12-12-1 record.
Jacksonville advances to the third round, where the Cardinals will host Williams.
