Sharks Battle In FCSAA Soccer Playoffs
Despite starting the season with a 1-4-2 record the Miami Dade College men’s soccer team has resurrected their season, winning four of their last seven games to qualify for the 2025 Florida College System Athletic Association Division I Men’s Soccer Championship.
The Sharks play Eastern Florida State College, who is ranked No. 7 nationally, on Thursday in Melbourne at 7 p.m. in the first round.
Miami Dade College is 6-10-2 and the Titans are 10-2-1. The winner of that game will play the nation’s No. 3 ranked team Daytona State College, who is 10-2-2, on Saturday at Daytona.
The Sharks have lost eight games this season by one goal. They lost their last two regular season games in that fashion: 1-0 to the Falcons on Oct. 19 and 1-0 to Montgomery College on Oct. 25.
“We’ve come really close in a lot of games but haven’t always found a way to finish,” said Sharks Head Coach Giuseppe DePalo. “We’ve lost some tight matches that could’ve gone either way. But the second half of the year, we’ve been much better. These boys are still fighting. They still believe. They’re confident, and we’re not going to be an easy team to play in the postseason.
But offense has been a major problem for the Sharks this year. Before the season started they parted ways with their top offensive player, forward Edoardo Duchini, who was tabbed Conference Player of the Year and led the squad with 14 goals last season.
“It was a discipline issue and we decided it was our choice to move forward without him,” DePalo said about Duchini’s dismissal from the team.
This season the team’s top three goal scorers, midfielder Javier Prieto, and defenders Jeremy Leviver and Cheick Dounkasse, all have four goals each. Combined, the trio has 12 goals, two less than Duchini had last year.
In addition, forward Facundo Ochoa has had a substantial offensive dropoff. He has two goals, compared to the 13 he notched last year.
“Facu had some injuries early on—a little bit of a groin problem—so he’s been coming off the bench and just hasn’t had the same continuity he had last year,” De Palo said. “He’s shown flashes of his old self, but it’s been a frustrating year for him. Hopefully, he’ll turn it around in the next few weeks. The good thing is, other guys have stepped up.”
The Sharks also suffered serious injuries to two key freshmen. Midfielder Emmanuel Serra broke his wrist in the preseason, keeping him sidelined for 12 games—more than half the year—and forward Carl Laurent missed two months due to tendinitis in his ankle.
However, other players have picked up the slack. Goal keeper Samuel Cavo had led the team on the defensive end with 74 saves in 15 games. Freshmen Nico Preciado, Daniele Malanga and Carl Laurent have also filled in admirably. Preciado has three goals and one assist, Malanga has two goals and two assists and Laurent added two goals.
“At the beginning of the season, we were struggling. The locker room was kind of toxic—we were sad about losses instead of angry in a productive way. But we’ve grown,” Prieto said. “We’re a talented team and once we started focusing and supporting each other, things improved. The coaches have been telling us to stay positive because it’s not how you start a season—it’s how you finish it.”
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