District championship: Raul Calvi's hat trick powers West Boca soccer over Dwyer

PALM BEACH GARDENS — Raul Calvi’s hat trick propelled West Boca boys soccer over top-seeded Dwyer Tuesday night, helping the Bulls clinch a district championship title.

Calvi staked his squad to a 1-0 lead just seven minutes into the match when the Panthers' goalie rushed off his line to clear, but sent the ball right to the midfielder.

The Bulls’ senior leader added two more to his tally in the championship game, each demonstrating both his finesse and power — and reaffirming the belief of many that he’s one of the premier talents in the county.

Dwyer (11-6-1) fought back not once but twice, between Lucas Cohen’s early equalizer and Roy Quest’s strike inside the final quarter as pressure mounted.

But despite a handful of quality chances, they couldn’t find the final touch in the dying minutes of the contest, leaving the top seed at risk of missing out on regional play.

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West Boca (6-5-4) will wait for their next opponent, but for now, celebrations are at hand.

Here are three takeaways from Tuesday’s district final match.

Calvi shoulders offense, leads West Boca to victory

It took about an hour for Calvi to increase his total from six goals scored on the season to nine.

When asked which of Calvi’s scores was his favorite, West Boca head coach Hassan Jaddaoui certainly had options to choose from.

Ultimately, he chose his star midfielder’s second strike.

“It was individual effort, and he just pulled it out of nothing,” Jaddaoui said. “Fantastic goal.”

The goal in question was a sight to see — as Calvi raced downfield, he latched onto the ball, maintained possession in the face of pressure, and somehow managed to create enough space off of a touch to fire home from 25 yards out.

“I received the ball outside the 18,” Calvi said. “I was able to dribble the six, find the space right behind the center-back and the six. After that dribble, I already had the picture in my mind of what I wanted to do, so I cut to the right, had a great shot, and thankfully it went in.”

When his strike found net, there was a gasp that rippled across the crowd, and for good reason.

Alongside his other two scores, Calvi gave Dwyer’s defense all they could handle, and with it, a victory in one of the biggest games of his high school career.

“It feels great,” he said. “This is everything I wanted. From all the practices, all the effort put in, we gave it all. That’s exactly what we had to do, and there it is.”

Dwyer criticizes FHSAA for penalty treatment in semifinals

Going into Tuesday’s game, the Panthers fielded two alternate players in place of key starters.

That’s because both Thiago Solis and Elio Rios-Doss received red cards in addition to the head coach, who he says was punished for questioning an official’s decision and subsequently yielded coaching duties to his assistant in Tuesday’s final.

“My honest opinion is that the FHSAA and the soccer referee association should be absolutely disgusted with themselves for allowing what happened in our district semifinals, for punishing the way they punished us,” Dwyer head coach Ahmad Abukhalil said.

“They should be ashamed of themselves,” he continued. “They really deprived these two teams of a great match.”

The Panthers fought back from early deficits with a pair of goals but couldn’t get past the Bulls’ pressure without their full complement of players.

The scene after the game for Dwyer’s bench pulled at heartstrings.

The loss stung badly, and certainly, the team felt that the circumstances should have been very different. In the emotions following the defeat, one assistant coach tossed the runner-up trophy as players huddled together, distraught.

The Panthers don’t yet know if the reshuffled seeding will allow them a chance to play in the regional playoffs, but either way, Tuesday’s game, Abukhalil said, does not define their team.

“I don’t think tonight is indicative of what kind of season we had,” he said. “In the end, soccer is a cruel game to some and a beautiful game to others. Today, it was beautiful for West Boca and cruel for Dwyer.”

Former assistant Bulls coach takes reins at request of players

Hassan Jaddaoui hasn’t been the West Boca head coach for very long.

After the previous coach left to go out of state following a family situation, multiple players, including Calvi, reached out to Jaddaoui with a request that he be the next head coach.

And of course, as expected, the answer was . . . no?

“I said, ‘No, I’m done with high school soccer,’” Jaddaoui said. “They came again . . . I could not let them down. I looked at the entire team and said, ‘You know what, these guys deserve a coach,’ so I stepped in. And I’m glad I did.”

Now, just months later, the Bulls are district champions, and Jaddaoui is still drying off his clothes from the vicious Gatorade bath.

“We asked our kids to give everything,” he said. “This is a championship game, so to have this opportunity means that you have to leave it on the field. And every one of them stepped up. Raul was at the forefront of their leadership. I’m happy for him and I’m happy for the entire team.”

After leading his squad to a district title, celebrations can only last so long. Regionals, after all, are right around the corner.

But that’s a prospect that excites both Jaddaoui and his players.

“We don’t know who we’re going to play against,” Jaddaoui said. “But whoever shows up, our boys will step it up and do what they love doing — playing soccer in the most beautiful way we know.”

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: West Boca soccer wins district title behind Raul Calvi's hat trick