The Cape Coral Seahawks are becoming very friendly with overtime play. Three of their last six postseason games have been decided in overtime or penalty kick shootouts.

Saturday night it was the former as the Seahawks knocked off Lakewood Ranch 2-1 about six minutes into the first overtime to claim the Region 4A-3 boys’ soccer championship.

The Seahawks (23-1-3) were awarded a corner kick in the overtime session. Juan Cano’s curving kick from the left corner clanked off the crossbar and was cleared by the Mustangs’ defense, giving the Seahawks another corner kick from the right corner.

Paolo Acosta’s bending kick to the middle reached Caio Amaral, who jumped higher than everyone else and buried a header in the back of the net for the game-winner.

“We had great fan support tonight,” said Seahawks coach Aldo Nardiello. “Because it was a home game that was changed, a lot of fans came up. When we scored the winning goal there was an outburst of jubilation.”

The Seahawks earned their first trip the the state final four. They play Celebration in the state semifinals Thursday at Pepin Stadium on the campus of the University of Tampa.

“It was a rough, physical, demanding game,” said Nardiello. “It kind of got us off our game. We had to adjust and play more direct because they were outmuscling us in midfield. It rattled us a bit.”

The Seahawks scored the first goal of the game with about 15 minutes remaining when Amaral volleyed a shot off his right foot into the upper corner of the net. The Mustangs managed to tie the game 1-1 with under a minute remaining, forcing the sudden-death overtime.

“Our defense was great by Andrew Gonzalez, Olivier Benedict and (keeper Daniel) Villamil was tremendous,” said Nardiello. “I have to quote Winston Churchill … never have so many owed so much to so few. It’s hard to imagine we’ve played this many (27) games.”

Villamil finished with 15 saves and the Mustangs’ one goal was just an outstanding shot, said Nardiello.