from miami herald

The word ''tension'' wasn't enough to describe what escalated through 91 minutes of of Friday's Region 4-3A final between Miami Gulliver and Plantation American Heritage, which the Patriots won 1-0 in a double-overtime thriller.

Not only was a trip to the state tournament at stake, but, also, the previous eight times these teams had met in the playoffs, American Heritage had ended Gulliver's season.

On top of that, not a single ball went through the net in regulation time. A few shots came close, a handful hit the crossbar, and three yellow cards were handed out.

Then, in the first minute of the second overtime, the suspense finally ended when American Heritage's Jessica Brown -- situated a few feet in front of the goal -- got a perfectly placed corner kick from Haleigh Stremanos, rose up over a pack of Gulliver defenders and headed the ball to the top-right corner of the goal.

Brown's shot ended Gulliver's season and put American Heritage back in the state final four after a one-year absence.

''[Returning to state] was one of the goals entering the season,'' said Patriots coach Phil Zayas, whose team will play St. Andrew's in the state semifinals Friday at the University of Tampa's Pepin Stadium. ``We wanted to get back there, and we are back there. It was nice to win this game, but now we have to regain focus, take advantage of the opportunity and not let it go to waste.''

The winning goal didn't come without a little bit of controversy, however.

When American Heritage (23-2-3) was awarded the corner kick, the Patriots' Melony Poviones was going to deliver the kick but gave way to Stremanos. At that point, coach Manny Soutullo of Gulliver (22-5-2) felt the Patriots had put the ball in play by touching it, and he sent one of his players to kick it out of bounds -- which would have resulted in an American Heritage throw-in, instead.

But the referees never believed the ball was in play, and the winning goal came seconds later.

''It's very obvious that the ball was in play -- everybody saw it except the referee,'' said Soutullo, who had four injured starters going into the game. ``But, hey, there's nothing we can do. It was a good game.''

Said Zayas: ``The other team thought it was in play, but it wasn't. And [the referee] blew the whistle because [Gulliver was] going to go and touch the ball, [as if to say] it's not in play.''

Brown's winning shot put the Patriots two victories away from their first state championship since 2005.

''It feels really good,'' said Brown, whose team was eliminated in a regional semifinal last season.

``This is all we've been working for the whole season, and to feel like we finally got there feels awesome.''