After the boys soccer regular season finale on Friday night between West Orange and Lake Highland Prep, one team feels better going into next week’s district play while the other just wants to get healthy.

The end result was a 3-0 win for the Highlanders (11-2-1) in which all three goals were scored in the final 14 minutes of the first half.

The differential was a surprise to both coaches since it was a matchup with LHP, the No. 3 team in the FHSAA’s Class 3A rankings against a West Orange (11-3-2) team ranked No. 3 in 7A.

“I thought one goal by either team would win this game,” said LHP coach Joel Dobrowolski, whose team will be the No. 1 seed in its district and region. “One of our goals coming into this season was to guarantee home matches through the regional, and we’ve done that.”

The game against West Orange was the Highlanders’ third straight against a 7A opponent to finish the season. They lost 5-2 to Lake Mary on Tuesday, and edged Lake Nona, 3-2, last week.

“We’ve challenged ourselves with the schedule, and when we can get tested by these great teams, it helps us get incrementally better,” Dobrowolski said.

The Highlanders looked like a well-oiled machine during the 14-minute span with the scores. Miles Olavarria scored off an assist from Lachlan Croft, then Olavarria assisted on a goal from Daniel Vazquez that came from about 25 yards out.

They also got a stellar game from junior keeper Alec Yang, who had seven saves to earn the shutout.

Lake Highland’s next game will be on Friday in the 3A District 6 tournament, where they’ll be heavy favorites.

West Orange, the top-ranked Orlando area team going into this week, limps into the postseason, literally. The Warriors only scored one goal in the last three games with draws against Bishop Moore (0-0) and Freedom (1-1) before Friday’s loss.

Part of the offensive slowdown is due to a lack of cohesiveness because of players missing time.

“We’ve had a lot of kids injured and haven’t had a lot of practice together,” West Orange coach Scott Fisher said. “Even tonight with a little bit more of a full array of players, we still had (senior Rafael) Tomirotte hardly play in the second half, (junior J.C.) Lewis is in and out with an injury, and (sophomore) Zair (Barragan) out. We’re just not healthy.”

The Warriors scored 22 goals in the previous four games before the last three of the regular season.

“We just need to get back together and working on basics together in practice,” he added.

West Orange will host its next game on Thursday in 7A District 3, which has two other 7A top 20 teams in Ocoee and Lake Mary; along with Apopka and Lake Brantley.

Varsity content editor Buddy Collings can be contacted by email at bcollings@orlandosentinel.com.

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2026/01/17/lake-highland-prep-blanks-west-orange-boys-soccer/