District soccer: Royal Palm Beach defeats Wellington with last-second goal

ROYAL PALM BEACH – If the first district semifinal match at Royal Palm was a three-course meal, the second was quite the dessert.

Top-seeded Royal Palm Beach overcame a hungry Wellington squad, winning 3-2 on Sebastian Montes’ goal in the dying moments of regulation.

“As the ball came over, I saw the light flash over it,” Montes said. “I just saw the ball to my feet. I saw that and just knew. It was instinct. I just needed to put it back in the net. It goes in, and we got a win tonight.”

The game-winning moment came after Montes had missed a penalty kick early in the game, denied by the crossbar as he skied the opportunity.

“I told him after the game, ‘That says a lot about you as a captain and a leader because most kids would have crumbled after missing the penalty kick,’” Royal Palm Beach head coach Malik Hasan said.

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While Montes played hero for the Wildcats, Colin Bock helped put Royal Palm in position for the comeback – though it didn’t start out that way.

Bock’s first goal came on a penalty, slotting the ball past Wolverines keeper Hayden Ryan.

His second goal served as a necessary second-half equalizer after Wellington’s Oliver Wasilewski and Antonio Zapata had put their squad on the front foot.

“The last 10 minutes of the game, we gave it our all like it was do or die,” Bock said. “I felt every single player on that field deserved to be on that field. Everybody just kept their heads up and kept working. No one stopped. We outworked each other, not the other team.”

Down to the wire, for a moment it looked like both the district’s underdogs were going to be headed to the championship game – John. I Leonard had already defeated Palm Beach Central.

But Hasan knows that the game isn’t over until the final whistle, and the top-seeded Wildcats are no strangers to competitive games.

“The guys pulled through,” Hasan said. “They didn’t quit. Everybody has to be that guy. We attack with eleven and we defend with eleven.”

For Wellington, the heartbreaking result came after the Wolverines had finally righted the ship with a dramatic quarterfinals victory over Forest Hill.

But the Cinderella story was not to be.

“The season wasn’t the strongest,” Wellington head coach Chris Carrera said. “We had our struggles. But we got to the last couple of games and it just clicked. They were playing with heart and desire. It’s just tough to lose like this, man. It wasn’t for lack of effort. These boys gave me one hundred percent, and that’s all I can ask for as a coach.”

While Wellington's record will likely not be enough to earn an at-large bid, Royal Palm will prepare to face John I. Leonard on Tuesday in the district championship.

The last time these two teams met, the Wildcats hoisted the district trophy on the Lancers’ home turf.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Royal Palm soccer advances to district final with last-minute goal