Flying L’s	Royal Palm Beach
6	1
M.V. Simões (4) C. Prado A. Binnion

The Flying L boys’ soccer team left little to chance on Thursday night, routing the Royal Palm Beach Wildcats six goals to one in the regional quarterfinals.

Approximately 60 fans and parents came to cheer the team on at the Inter Miami training ground, located a stone’s throw away from the main stadium. Both opened just last year on the site of the old Lockhart Stadium, where the City of Fort Lauderdale’s high school teams played for decades.

The Flying L’s struck early, hitting the back of the net in the eighth minute, and Royal Palm Beach responded with a goal of their own in the 13th minute. However, the trade ended as quickly as it started, with the Flying L’s scoring again in the 20th minute going into quarter-time, and coming back out to put two more goals in the net before halftime, in the 36th and 40th minutes. The second half was no less lively, with goals coming in the 54th and 64th minutes to wrap up the 6-1 scoreline.

Mario Simões (12) contributed a hat-trick and capped it off with an additional goal, while Camilo Prado and Aidan Binnion netted one each. Several more shots found the woodwork, limiting the goal-scoring to those six shots.

The match was played under clear skies, albeit with changing wind conditions throughout. Smoke began to flow north over the field around the 70th minute, possibly as a result of drag racing occurring on nearby NW 12th Avenue.

It was a clean match on the part of the Flying Ls, with only one player cautioned for misconduct while the ball was dead. Royal Palm Beach was not so lucky to avoid the ire of the referee’s book; one of their players was sent off in the 60th minute after drawing his second yellow card.

Overall, Coach Mourinho Snipe was impressed with his team’s performance on the night. “I’m very happy today, I’m just looking forward to the next [one],” he said after the match.

Indeed, the next match will be one to watch, as the Flying L’s face off against perennial private school rivals St. Thomas Aquinas, who won their quarterfinal against West Boca Raton 1-0 after extra time took them deep into the night. The Flying L’s bested St. Thomas 5-0 in the District 14 championship match on February 11th, and will be looking to repeat that performance on Saturday, when they face off once again on the Inter Miami training ground at 7 pm.