By Teresa Martinez - Belen Jesuit Preparatory School
Photographer: COURTESY PHOTO
After their 5-2 win versus Gulf Coast in Melbourne, Feb. 12, the Belen Jesuit Prep soccer team celebrate their victory.
MIAMI | Belen Jesuit Prep's soccer team returned from Melbourne Feb. 12 celebrating both a state championship and an undefeated season.
The boys beat Gulf Coast 5 to 2 to clench the Florida High School Athletic Association state championship in Division 4A. This is the school's first soccer state title ever, an achievement duly noted by the school's president, Jesuit Father Guillermo García-Tuñon.
"Now Belen Jesuit has soccer fever," he wrote in a message to school staff, students and parents. "The whole school community stopped to rally their team and show them the support they deserved. On Friday hundreds of fans made their way from Miami to Melbourne to cheer their team on to victory. The result… for the first time in the 162-year history of our school, the Wolverines have earned the greatest prize in Florida state athletics: a state championship."
Calling it "no fluke," and noting the team's "hard work, endless practice, mental and physical preparation," he thanked the team's coach, Taner Mendonca, the school's athletic director, Carlos Barquín, parents and fans.
On Tuesday, Feb. 16, he continued, the school will gather at the Garrido Family Plaza to "place the laurel of victory on their heads and encourage all sectors of the school community to mirror their success in their own right."
