Ida Baker High boys' soccer coach Mick Whitewood chose to delay his postgame meeting a few more minutes Friday night, as his team huddled near midfield at North Fort Myers' Moody Field.
The Bulldogs lost to the Fort Myers Green Wave 2-0 in the District 4A-11 championship game, but rather than ignore the Wave's jubilant celebration, the Bulldogs stood approximately 20 yards away and watched it all.
This was a lesson for the Bulldogs, who fell short of their goal to be district champs, but play in a regional quarterfinals match next Thursday at Naples.
"It was a terrible night for us," said Whitewood, "but as tough as it seems, they've got to feel that pain.
"The reason we play sports is because you win or lose," he added. "If losing didn't mean anything then we wouldn't play, so you have to feel that heartbreak to make yourself a better person, to understand how valuable winning is."
The third-seeded Bulldogs (20-4-5) entered the district tournament on a seven-match win streak, which included a victory in the LCAC Championship. They advanced to Friday's district title match based on tournament wins over South Fort Myers, 4-1, and Cape Coral, 2-1.
In their biggest match to date Friday, the Bulldogs got off to a solid start, producing a thrilling, back-and-forth style of play against the top-seeded Wave (15-5-2), which lasted for about 30 minutes.
The Wave struck for two goals, though, in a four-minute span late in the first half and seized control from that point on.
With eight minutes left in the half, the Wave's Michael Siegel sent a corner kick on net, and as Baker goalkeeper Jose Zuniga tried to secure the ball it got loose, allowing Brendan Collins to score for a 1-0 lead.
Four minutes later, the Wave extended the lead to 2-0. Jacque Francois took a cross from Collins down the center and buried a shot past Zuniga.
Even with the 2-0 lead, the Wave remained aggressive offensively in the second half and outshot the Bulldogs 16-7.
"We didn't sit on it. I told them at halftime to keep playing hard," said Fort Myers coach Carl Sousa, who has guided the team to five regional appearances since 1999.
Both teams had their share of chances early in the first half, but Baker's best opportunity came about 11 minutes into the match. Off a free kick, Harvey Rincon slid a pass ahead to Daniel Sharkey along the left side and he fed Yuri Bykau, in front, for what appeared to be a goal, but Sharkey was called for offsides.
As the match wore on, the Bulldogs struggled to gain field position. They did put together a brief spurt late in the second half.
With 13 minutes left, Sharkey blasted a shot to the right side of the goal, but Fort Myers goalkeeper Michael Thompson stretched out for the save.
Nick Presti, Baker's top goal scorer, had his best chance four minutes later when he tried a header off a corner kick, but the shot missed high.
The match turned physical and chippy, at times, over the final 25 minutes after a shoving match between Baker's Brian Leon and Fort Myers' Nick Brown.
"We never executed the game plan and that's the bottom line," Whitewood said. "Now I've got to get their mental level where it needs to be. We have a lot of guys, particularly our seniors, who invested a lot into this year and I have to get them up there mentally.
"We have work to do. We still have a tournament to play in."
The Bulldogs travel to Naples Thursday for their first-ever regional quarterfinals match. Naples knocked off Golden Gate Friday for the 4A-12 championship. Golden Gate visits Fort Myers Thursday.
District 3A-12: Andrew Palumbo scored four goals to lead Bishop Verot to a 7-2 victory over Gateway Charter in the championship game of the district tournament at Viking Stadium.
Austin Doyle added two goals and Jorge Aller had one goal. Goalkeeper Lucas Polk made six saves to preserve the victory.
The Vikings (21-1-2) will host a Region 3-3A quarterfinal playoff game at 7 p.m. Thursday.
