December 31, 2025
Leesburg High Soccer Team Leads by Example with Top GPAs and Strong Record
By Kyle Coppola
Leesburg High Soccer Team Leads by Example with Top GPAs and Strong Record
The Leesburg High School boys soccer team has built a strong 9-3-1 record this season, positioning the Yellow Jackets as a strong contender heading into district playoffs.
Second-year head coach Stetson Pasternak credits the team’s success to overcoming adversity with hard work and patience.
“When it looked like things were going south, they show up, work hard and pull out positive results,” Pasternak says. “This comes from the hard work on the field and the mentality we have been shaping.”
He praised his coaching staff, assistants Morgan Davidson-Ford, Kenny Jones, Poncho Hernandez, Andres “Chino” Pedraza and Pablo Fontora — for preparing the players physically and mentally. Coach Pasternak also highlighted the squad’s mutual motivation, which has extended to the classroom with notable “academic comebacks.”
Leadership has been key, led by captains Land Baltunis (5.1 GPA), Jace Chaney (3.8 GPA) and Liam Henderson (5.1 GPA).
Senior Jace Chaney has advice to any student out there facing adversity. “Keep fighting and never give up. You should encourage each other and keep going, even when it’s rough.”
Senior Liam Henderson, who has also been among the areas top High School Football Kickers, emphasizes faith in preparation: “Have faith in your work and trust that the outcome you want will come with dedication and persistence.” Liam has led the Jackets by fostering the right mentality among teammates and that’s shown in every sport but especially in the classroom where Liam excels.
On the field, sophomore Roberto Andrade leads the Yellow Jackets with 10 goals. Roberto has attributed his scoring to “passion to find the goal and just trying as hard as I can to score.” Andrade stressed team improvement through better communication and passing.
Junior Jesus Hernandez has also been a standout for the Jackets with nine goals, while freshman Anthony Fandino has emerged with eight goals and a team-high seven assists, leading in total points.
For Pasternak, the season has been personally rewarding.
“As a coach, this is very uplifting for me,” he says. “I do all things for the glory of God, to love Him, and to love others. Coaching has enabled me to love and serve my community and help develop great young men for the future. Everything I have seen this season with these young men shows me that I am not doing this for nothing. I attribute all of my success to God.”
The Yellow Jackets are gearing up for tough district playoffs at the end of January. Leesburg and Springstead are the heavy favorites to make it to the district championship.
Leesburg also has wins against Gainesville, Lecanto and Belleview this season the other teams in their district.
“We are excited,” Pasternak says. “It will be tough, but these boys are relentless to get what they want.”
Pasternak encouraged the community to come out and support the team. Coach Pasternak is coming off a strong debut season for Leesburg leading the Yellow Jackets back to the FHSAA Playoffs last year and finished district runner up last year after a two overtime thriller against Springstead.
Keep an eye on the Leesburg Yellow Jackets as they hope to bring the district championship home to Leesburg.
Kyle Coppola was born in Newton, Massachusetts and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communications from Curry College in 2016. After traveling to Florida on a family vacation, he decided he could not get enough of the warm weather and made the move from snowy Massachusetts to central Florida 8 years ago.
For the last decade Kyle has gained valuable experience in social media content creation, marketing and sales, writing, video production, sports announcing and even broadcasting for local radio stations, such as FM 102.9 in The Villages and FM 91.5 in Massachusetts. Every year he volunteers at The Villages Charter High School as a play-by-play sports announcer for the football games as well as a public address announcer for the basketball games, including the annual Battle at The Villages Tournament.
Outside the office Kyle is a husband and father to two beautiful girls along with their cat. In his spare time he likes to spend time with his family, travel, play golf and swim. He is also a huge sports junkie and even bigger motorsports fan and loves to attend racing events when he can.
