PALM COAST — Vincent Ferrugiaro took matters into his own hands.
In the first quarter of the District 4-2A boys lacrosse quarterfinals against Flagler Palm Coast on April 10, the Matanzas senior struck for three goals. In the second quarter, he added another.
He kicked off the third quarter with two more, giving the Pirates a 6-0 cushion on their home field.
The Bulldogs eventually got on the board with a few strikes, and other Matanzas players joined the scoring party in the fourth quarter. But Ferrugiaro posted a game-best seven goals in his team’s 10-5 victory.
The fourth-seeded Pirates will face top-seeded Buchholz in the district semifinals on April 14.
“It means a lot to us,” Ferrugiaro said. “My freshman year, we lost to FPC in districts — first round also, actually to our head coach (Dominic Tavolacci). I played against him. To beat them again in districts is pretty sweet as a senior.”
The win boosted Matanzas to 4-10. It moved the Pirates to 2-0 against Flagler Palm Coast this season and kept them undefeated against their archrival since Ferrugiaro’s aforementioned freshman campaign in 2023.
“Just kind of told them, ‘Let’s make a statement,’” Tavolacci said. ‘“Go out there and get up quick. Stay ahead.’”
The fifth-seeded Bulldogs closed their season with a 2-12 record.
“If we do two halves like the second half, it’s a whole different game,” FPC coach Michael Commendatore said. “We have such a new team with players who’d never played lacrosse and never expected to see a field. We lost six players during the year for different reasons. We lost one of our new players, who was starting, to a shoulder injury in this game. So we had players on the field out there that never would have expected to be seeing a playoff game. So to end where we did, really, it’s all you can ask with that experience.”
After Ferrugiaro’s flurry, the Bulldogs recorded the final score of the third quarter. Senior Ryan Zapata zipped in a long shot, cutting their deficit to 6-1.
He opened the fourth with another goal. A minute and a half later, freshman Garrett Winkler caught a pass near the net and redirected it in. Just like that, Flagler Palm Coast had trimmed Matanzas’ lead to 6-3.
Less than a minute after Winkler’s tally, Matanzas junior Michael Lamonica ended the run by ripping a one-bouncer past the goalie.
Senior Cael Schouten, Ferrugiaro and senior Rylee Roberts followed with goals of their own, putting the contest out of reach, 10-3, with four minutes remaining.
“Our attack worked together really well,” Ferrugiaro said. “Our midfield, we all brought it together and ran the plays coach Dom wanted us to play. That’s what kind of helped us succeed.”
Roberts’ score was the first of his season on only his second shot. After the goal, he crossed his arms for a pose and Ferrugiaro lifted him up.
“I’m going to be honest — I’m not really an offensive player,” Roberts said. “I play defense, but I was on the sideline. I was asking my coach, ‘If I get the ball, can I go try to get one?’ He gave me the nod. He said, ‘If you can pick it up on a faceoff, go try to score.’ So when that ground ball came to me, I picked it up. I got through the line and just shot.”
The Bulldogs finished the proceedings with two goals in the final 70 seconds. Winkler got another, and Zapata polished off a hat trick.
FPC’s senior goalie, Aiden Commendatore, also surpassed 700 combined saves over the past three years. He ranks among the top five in save percentage in Florida at .692, according to MaxPreps.
For Matanzas, Friday’s contest marked its second-fewest goals given up in a game this season, trailing only the four it allowed during the first meeting with the Bulldogs.