Gainesville repeats as Alachua County Cup champs

After having one penalty kick taken off the board earlier, senior Connor Kinsell made sure the next one counted for sure Friday.

Kinsell was taken down inside the box right of the goal, launched a shot directly at Santa Fe keeper Garrett McGehee, who made a nice save initially but couldn’t secure the ball, allowing Kinsell the opportunity to follow through on the ricochet and place the ball into the left corner of the goal to give Gainesville a 1-0 lead.

“It was a great feeling, I really thought I wasn’t going to get my goal,” Kinsell said. “There was only about 11 minutes to go and thought we might go to extra time and so when I scored it was a lot of emotion and I was very happy.”

That was all Gainesville (10-1-2) would need to defend its Alachua County Cup title again in a 2-0 win over Santa Fe (5-6-1) at Citizens Field.

Kinsell appeared to give Gainesville an early 1-0 lead in the 28th minute after successfully converting a penalty kick, but had it taken off the board due to an encroachment call on the Hurricanes.

“The ref said somebody moved, he wouldn’t tell me who it actually was, they got the rule wrong, it was supposed to be a retake, they chalked it off and gave it to the other team,” Kinsell said. “They actually came out after halftime and said they were wrong they looked up the rules and that was incorrect, we really got robbed on that one. “

Kinsell was elated to get the back-to-back title again and the bragging rights that come with it.

“It’s great you know you play your friends in this, but you know when you’re playing against them they’re not your friends and the next year you could be like well we beat you so that’s all you can say,” Kinsell added.

His coach echoed the statements of successfully defending the county title.

“This game was kind of like a playoff game, you know with all the passion and stuff we have been practicing kind of went out the window,” Gainesville coach Basil Benjamin said. “ It means a lot to the kids, it's bragging rights for the kids, all these kids play club ball together, so when your back with your clubs you don’t want to be the guy everyone is talking about, we speak about this and they always feel like given the opportunity they should be the team in Gainesville that comes out with this.”

Kinsell has made the most of his senior year after not playing much last season.

“He’s a tremendous player, one of our senior leaders,” Benjamin said. “He didn’t play a lot last year and at the end of the season I explained why to him and he devoted his entire summer and most of the fall to soccer and when winter started he was ready to play.”

Junior keeper William Clavier and senior forward Jean Mairena were named most valuable players on defense and offense. Clavier with stood multiple attacks from the Raiders front line but kept the Raiders scoreless. Mairena, who added a goal in the final two minutes to give the Hurricanes a 2-0 lead, scored the game winner in the 1-0 semifinal win over Eastside on Wednesday.

Santa Fe had plenty of chances to score, but just wasn’t able to convert. Dylan Akers nearly gave the Raiders a 1-0 lead in the 8th minute, but his bicycle kick was saved by Clavier. Akers broke free in the 55th minute, but was taken down by a Hurricanes player, however, no foul was called.

RJ Boone’s direct kick in the 45th minute was saved by Clavier to deny the Raiders another opportunity.

Eastside (2-5-2) stunned Buchholz (4-7), 1-0, in the third-place game with a late goal in the second half.