Anderson DaSilva confessed to some anxiety over Saturday night’s match. It wasn’t that he didn’t believe Brave SC could win a third match over Brevard SC this season, but the game couldn’t arrive quickly enough to wash away the taste of the team’s first loss of the summer earlier in the week.
“We needed this game to come faster, which I’m glad it did, because we just played Wednesday and Saturday,” the Buffalo head coach said. “Now, we can leave that game against Nona (FC) to the side.”
That first result of July was quickly forgotten as the Buffalo (8-1-2) posted a season-high six goals in a 6-0 win over Brevard (1-8-2) Saturday night at The Range at The Villages Charter Middle School.
“I think it’s extremely massive,” midfielder Fabio Rodrigues said. “I don’t think we identify ourselves by that loss. It was a one-time thing. We talked about it with Coach, with the team. We understand what went wrong. No one likes losing, but I think this was the perfect time to lose and to learn from it because it allows us to grow going into the playoffs. I think coming here and getting this beautiful result proves it was a one-time thing.”
The Buffalo began creating chances from the very start, but didn’t put one away until Rodrigues found the net in the 20th minute. He buried a pass from Oscar Resano to snap a five-match goalless streak.
Nico Diaz doubled the advantage in the 35th, chasing down a long ball from Henrique Gallina, which he flicked across the goal and off the left post to score.
“Everybody was focused, everybody was on the same page,” DaSilva said. “I know we didn’t score a lot of goals on a couple of good chances in the first half, but, also, we scored a couple of good chances that hit the post and went in. Those balls could have hit the post and not scored. It’s a balance.”
DaSilva also went with an atypical starting lineup Saturday, opening with Andrew Muller in goal and Joao Ribeiro, Nazar Deputat and Lui Bradbury, all usually reserves, on the pitch. Meanwhile, everyday starters like Matheus Ferreira, Mathias Tieppo, Alvaro Carrera and Breno Correia began the game on the bench and Yuki Nakamura was left off the roster altogether.
“I wanted our team to get even stronger for the second half to take advantage of them being tired,” the coach said. It was a risk, because we needed the players to respond well because, all of a sudden, Joao was starting, Lui and Nazar, but they did the job.”
DaSilva went to his bench at halftime, bringing in reinforcements from the usual starting lineup, who took full advantage of their fresh legs. Carrera, in particular, was potent, either scoring or assisting on all four goals in the second half to earn Man of the Match honors.
He scored the first of the period just 30 seconds after taking the pitch, driving home Resano’s second assist.
“Alvaro, his first touch was pretty much a goal,” DaSilva said. “He just got in and said, ‘Okay, I know how to do it.’ We were laughing over there (on the bench).”
Carrera found Correia five minutes later to further add to the lead, setting up the right back for his first tally of the campaign.
Carrera scored another in the 72nd, converting a nice feed from Ferreira, and returned the favor in the 78th with a pass to Ferreira for a long shot to ring up the final score.
“We knew it was on us, so everyone came in knowing we needed to score goals,” Carrera said. “If we want to be champions, we need to score as many goals as possible and put the pressure on Nona. This is not just for me, this is for the whole team. The whole team works for the same objective.”
The victory represented the Buffalo’s largest scoring total of the year, surpassing five-goal performances against Brevard and Brooke House FC earlier in the season. It also further enhanced their already advantageous position for the Southeast Division title, with the deciding tie-breaker likely to come down to goal differential should Brave SC and Nona FC each win their final matches.
“We know Nona is going to play this team Tuesday, so we needed to score as many goals as possible,” Carrera said. “It’s still dependent on us, so we’re going to come here again next week, get the job done and win the title.”
Brave SC will wrap up the regular season Friday night at home against Inter Gainesville KF with a chance to secure its fifth division championship and second in a row.
For more information on Brave SC, including the roster, Southeast Division standings and a complete schedule, visit BraveSC.com.