The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School men’s varsity soccer team faced the Coral Glades Jaguars at JP Taravella High School in their first round of the District 13, Division 7A playoffs on Friday, Jan. 27. The Eagles are currently the first seed in their district rankings.

The Eagles started out with some early shot attempts, but Coral Glades had solid defense and goalkeeping to keep the score 0-0. Midfielder Tomer Yair (6) started off the scoring for MSD with a goal in the 19th minute of the game.

“As an individual, I feel like I was being a great leader on the field,” Yair said.

The rest of the first half was filled with MSD applying pressure offensively, but the Jaguars stopped them every time with their strong defense.

“The team’s biggest struggle was figuring out their game plan. Once we realized what they wanted, we could plan and counter them accordingly. As time passed, our game plan worked magnificently, and we left them in the dust,” defender Ian Selveraj (5) said.

At halftime, the score was 1-0 in favor of the Eagles.

During the second half of the game, the Eagles came back strong. They came out firing from all angles and had a goal that was taken back by an offsides call.

In the 61st minute, Douglas had an opportunity to extend their lead. Yair came through with a goal, his second and the team’s second, extending the lead to two.

Once again, the Eagles kept their offensive pressure, eventually scoring another goal to extend the Eagles lead. The goal was scored by midfielder Joaquin Gonzalez (10).

The rest of the game the Eagles attempted to score but were stopped by Coral Glades strong defense. The Eagles won 3-0.

“I feel that when you have a friend on the other team it becomes more of an individual game instead of how soccer should be played, as a team,” Gonzales said.

The Eagles will face Monarch High School on Monday, January 30, in the district championship that will again be hosted by Taravella.