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Sharks share the wealth Three players notch solo goals as NCT upsets Z'hills, 3-2

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By RICK FULLER, Hernando Today correspondent

Published: December 3, 2007

BROOKSVILLE - A late goal by Megan Jacobson snapped a 2-2 tie handing the Sharks a critical 4A-8 win Wednesday night against Zephyrhills at Shark Tank Stadium, 3-2.

Playing with no seniors, and missing its top playmaker, Brittany Allen, Nature Coast (6-4 overall) scored early on a goal by Cassie Freeman on an assist by Taylor Reiss to take the lead, but it didn't last long as Zephyrhills (6-5 overall) scored three touches later when Desiree Nieves passed to Brandi Mira for one of their two hook-ups on the night.

With 6:44 left in the first period Nature Coast junior striker Taylor Agricola took a pass from freshman forward Shawna Barber and slipped one past Zephyrhills goalkeeper Brittni Manautou to take the lead 2-1. That's the way the match stood at halftime.

The Lady Bulldogs became a bit more aggressive in the second period and took control early when they scored on another Nieves-to-Mira goal to tie the match, 2-all.

The contest remained evenly matched until with less than two minutes remaining, Freeman found Jacobson, and she sent the ball past a diving Manautou for the game winner, 3-2.
Nature Coast Head Coach Phil Bennett praised his club, "Amanda Salazar made a big-time tackle. That's the Nature Coast way right there. "

About Zephyrhills
"Zephyrhills is a very difficult team to play against," added Coach Bennett. "Because they play a very direct style. Basically they just kick it as far as they can. It's ugly. It's an uncomfortable way to play against, but they play it well. So we practiced all week to accommodate that style of play, to negate that style of play, and I thought we did it very well. We controlled the game you know."

This year's goals

"My goal this year is to get them to pass the ball," said Bennett. "I don't want them to kick it long, like this team. I don't want them to play long ball sport, because that's not what college scouts are looking for. That's not going to develop my players. So I want them passing the ball. They won the game because they passed the ball."

Who stood out?

"No. 6 (Cassie Freeman) was outstanding today. She was the best player on the field by a country mile," commented Bennett. "She dominated the midfield, and she's our captain, and she played a captain's role today. She led by example today. She's not a big talker on the field, she just leads by example, and the rest of the girls picked up and followed her today.

"Taylor Agricola is on a real hot form right now," added Bennett when asked about the second goal. "She scored six goals in the last game. That gives her 10 goals on the season. But it's not just about her goals; it's the overall way she's playing right now. I asked her to play a particular way, which won't necessarily get her many goals, and the way I told her to play is designed to create our midfield players to score more, but she deserves it, because she's working really, really hard on her game."

Defense?

"We gave away two very sloppy goals," said Bennett. "We gave two goals from our bad play more than their good play. We let them get to the ball first, and when they have the ball they do some damage. And they did. They have some good players. We gave away sloppy goals and we have to eradicate that."

A disappointed Zephyrhills Head Coach Danielle Castro spoke of the game, saying. "It was not a good effort on our team. We had opportunities to score and couldn't put the ball in the net." Castro said. "They played well. The core of my kids will be back next year. I have a lot of juniors."

Coach Castro summed it up, saying. "We got in a lot, but just didn't score."
Nature Coast Coach Bennett summed it up saying. "I'm just so happy that we won. It's not the score, it's because of the way we played. We passed the ball fantastically, and that's what I've been on all season. The ball was on the floor, all the time. There were no long balls, everything was played to a blue player, and that's why we won."

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