Boys soccer at Palm Harbor University is in a major resurgence mode, and Saturday proved it.
PHU is now 11-0-0 and has outscored its opponents 53-1 in those 11 matches. It hasn’t given up a goal since game No. 1 on Nov. 4, a 6-1 win over rival East Lake. The polls have reflected this. This past week, the MaxPreps winter soccer boys national poll had the Hurricanes at No. 24 in America — and after what happened Saturday? PHU’s all-time high-water mark may get challenged.
The highest year-end MaxPreps national ranking PHU’s boys has ever reached was No. 17 in 2017-18 under former coach Wipoj Huse. The team finished 19-1-1 and lost in the regional final round of the state playoffs. The national ranking began in the 2013-14 season with MaxPreps.
PHU BOYS MAXPREPS PAGE: Palm Harbor University Boys Soccer
After this weekend though, PHU’s national ranking will undoubtedly go up. PHU — under the direction of second-year coach Thurstan Johnston — won the relatively new Tampa Bay Champions League, an elite all-class tournament that should be considered nearly as important as winning a state championship in your class. Some of the final matches are as tough as the final eight or final four in the state playoffs.
On Saturday here at Hurricanes Stadium, PHU beat Osceola High out of Seminole via the penalty kick route to capture the 16-team tournament contested by invite-only programs that won district tournaments last year. After a scoreless regulation, PHU won 5-4 in penalties — with Nick Malak, Hubert Kumik, Logan Stewart, Maximo Narvaez, and team leading scorer Mo Tejeddine converting.
Malak, one of the program’s top players, has come onto varsity soccer at PHU after spending several seasons with the MLS Next club program. The senior told PalmHarborSports he is enjoying playing for his school, and he has 8 goals and a team-leading 12 assists to back it up.
He explained the Tampa Bay Champions League victory.
“It was an experience that I will definitely cherish forever, just like I know everyone else on the team will,” Malak told PalmHarborSports after the Hurricanes won it. “To join the PHU team as a senior and win the Champions League, a title the boys haven’t been able to obtain before? It truly meant something to us.”
The way Tampa Bay Champions League functions is similar to how the professional European version works. There is some group play spread over several weeks, then some head-to-head play later. The boys and the PHU girls had four group games to play. Both won their groups and both made it to the final four. The girls lost to state power Newsome on Thursday via penalties, and the boys beat Mitchell HS the same semifinal night 1-0 on senior Zach Palm’s goal and junior goalkeeper Lucas Ellison’s shutout in the net.
Like Malak, sophomore Tejeddine (13 goals, 6 assists) summed up winning it all on Saturday
“This win was a great win for the team and a huge statement to everyone on how much effort we’ve put to win these kinds of games,” PHU’s leading scorer told PalmHarborSports. “This is one of many accomplishments, and we will keep pushing to all of our next games and push for the state title.”
After the Christmas break, the PHU boys will open 2025 play at home against — you guessed it — the same Osceola team they just played on Saturday. It will be played at 8 p.m. on Jan. 8. It is a scheduled home doubleheader where the girls will take on Osceola at 6 p.m.
