Santa Fe crushes South Sumter in regional quarterfinal

ALACHUA — Senior Dillon Giambrone and freshman Kenny Contreras-Lopez each scored hat tricks, and Santa Fe bombarded visiting South Sumter on the way to a 7-0 win Wednesday night in its Region 2-2A quarterfinal boys soccer match.

A match that was slated to start at 7 p.m. didn’t begin until almost 7:30, due to a late arrival from the visiting Raiders.

Giambrone provided early scoring, and Contreras-Lopez joined in the fun in the second half, and it was still all Santa Fe in between, as the host Raiders marched their way into the Class 2A regional semis for a second straight season.

“I did not expect this,” Santa Fe coach Paul Richardson admitted afterward. “I thought this was going to be a very tough game.”

Just 80 seconds in, Giambrone quickly helped dispel his coach’s concerns. Receiving a long ball played ahead and over the South Sumter back line, Giambrone raced through uncontested and blasted the ball past the keeper for a 1-0 lead.

Nearly 30 minutes later, the senior struck again. Off a Raiders’ throw in toward the visitors’ goal, senior Deven Ingley chipped the ball backwards, over his head. Giambrone instantly found his way under the descending ball and blasted a volley on net before it ever hit the ground, stunning the South Sumter goalie as well as the home crowd. The 2-0 lead would stand at the half.

“Dillon’s speed is one of the strengths we have as a team,” Richardson said. “It makes him an absolute threat.”

Twenty minutes into the second stanza, Giambrone nearly completed the hat trick to go up, 3-0. Racing in, his shot on goal was turned away, but Contreras-Lopez converged from the wing to pick up the rebound and fire it past the sprawling keeper. Five minutes later, the speedy freshman took a pass from Ingley, made a nice cut toward the goal, then fired it into the roof of the net for a 4-0 advantage.

The rout was on.

Again, just five minutes later, Ingley took a pass and ran through the defense, slipping a shot just inside the goalpost to make it 5-0. Giambrone notched his third minutes after that, then Contreras-Lopez joined the three-goal gang scoring with ease on a penalty kick after being pulled down in the goal box.

Giambrone’s big night gave him goals 47, 48 and 49 for the season, among tops in the nation this season according to Richardson.

“I didn’t really think I was going to score three goals, or Kenny would score three goals,” Giambrone said. “I expected it to be closer. I think we have a pretty good chance going forward.”

Santa Fe (16-4-2) hosts The Villages this Saturday in the Region 2-2A semis.