USL LEAGUE TWO: Defensive-minded Sarasota Paradise picking up steam, clinches postseason bid with franchise record 16-goal explosion
- Dan Stickradt
- Jul 10
- 3 min read
NATIONAL SOCCER NEWS: www.nationalsoccernetwork.com
MIAMI, Fla. – Now, that’s an offensive display to clinch a spot in the playoffs. Especially for a defensive-minded team.
South Florida Division leader Sarasota Paradise exploded Wednesday night for a 16-0 shutout over host Miami AC at Miami (Fla.) Pace High School – clinching a berth in the 2025 USL League Two postseason for the second straight season.
It also marked a franchise record for most goals scored by the club in one game.
The Paradise can clinch the South Florida Division title Saturday night when FC Miami City comes to the Premier Sports Complex at Lakewood Ranch for a 7:30 p.m. clash which is the regular season finale for both squads.
Sarasota moved to 8-1-2 record in the division, including 4-0-1 in its last five games where they hold a 24-1 scoring edge and four shutouts. Overall this season, the Paradise, who have the division lead thanks to a 2.36 points-per-match total ahead of Fort Lauderdale United (8-2-2, 2.17 PPM, outscored opposition 21-10) even though both sides have 26 points apiece in the standings.
Sarasota Paradise also averages 3.10 goals-per-game offensively, while defensively have pitched six shutouts in 11 games and have posted a 0.73 goals-against-average. The only team that has scored more than one goal in a game on the Paradise defense was fourth-place FC Miami City, which handed Sarasota its only loss back on June 11 (4-2).
Jack Kilstrom has logged most of the minutes in goal this season for the Sarasota Paradise. Juan Rojas, Lukas Kamrath, Enxo Panozzo, Robert Burelew, Andrew Hollenbach and Juan Rodriguez are the six main defenders that have played a bulk of the minutes as outside marking backs or center back and have aided just the eight goals conceded – the only team to allow single-digits in the division.
Before the 16-0 win Wednesday, Andres Friere led the Paradise with five goals. Now several players on the roster added a few chunks to their totals. In fact, seven different players scored in the win.
Sarasota scored four times between the 10th and 15th minutes to open up an early 4-0 advantage. By the half, the Paradise were up comfortably at 6-0.
Sarasota scored twice in the early portion of the second half before scoring eight more times after the 63rd minute to nearly double their offensive output against lowly Miami AC, which finished 0-12-0 this season and have been outscored 49-6.
The aforementioned Friere scored a career-high five goals to give him a team-leading 10 tallies on the season. Owen Barnett, who scored the game-winner in the 10th minute, also notched a hat trick with three goals, while Elias Kodri, Fabrizio Bernal and Romeo Dahlen all scored twice in the rout. James Maxwell and Nikola Slijivic had single tallies in the win.
Several other players drew assists in the win.
The Paradise, which own two 1-1 draws with St. Petersburg FC this season, can secure the division title with three more points against FC Miami City. Ironically, the league title will have to go through the sole team to defeat Sarasota this season – and sweet revenge will be on the mind of the Sarasota Paradise in their final regular season.
The USL League Two will begin to release postseason pairings, locations and times on Monday morning (July 14).
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