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Gulf Quietly Putting Together Big Streak

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By CHRIS ERRINGTON Tribune correspondent

Published: December 18, 2007

They've watched and waited for nearly an entire season. Thanks to an incredible winning streak, this could finally be the Buccaneers' time.

With Class 4A-District 8-leader Hudson and fellow power Springstead garnering many of the headlines, Gulf has quietly remained out of the spotlight. A loss to Panama City Rutherford in a Thanksgiving tournament was an unlikely beginning to one of the best winning streaks any Pasco County team has enjoyed this season, but since then the Buccaneers have been on a roll. Ten victories and a tie in the past 11 games, including a 3-0 blanking of Hudson, has Gulf right in the thick of the race for top seeding at the district tournament and coach Shari Schau's Buccaneers looking for respect.

"I'm pretty happy to be flying under the radar, but the girls aren't," Schau said. "They wanted to know why everyone's speaking about Springstead and Hudson and why not them."

Statistically it's difficult to find a Gulf standout, but that's where the Buccaneers (14-5-1, 12-2-1), who recently jumped ahead of Springstead into second place behind Hudson (13-2-2), derive their strength. An unselfish offense that features six double-digit scorers, including leading goal scorer Alicia Roddenberg (15 goals, 6 assists) and Kelly Sakser (11 goals, 3 assists), combines with a nearly impenetrable defense (17 total goals allowed, 8 shutouts during winning streak). The combination has been, well, unbeatable.

"We're on a ride right now," Schau said. "You look at our stats right now, and no one is outstanding, but we kind of spread around the wealth offensively.

"Now we just want to keep taking care of business on our end and wait to see where we're seeded for the district tournament. This is a team that's loaded with seniors and they've been to the next level once, but it didn't go the way they wanted it. This time they want to make a better postseason run."

THE FINAL PUSH: Mitchell coach Karl Kukec knows the biggest key to a state championship opportunity couldn't be any closer.

It's in the Mustangs' own district.

Following a thrilling 3-2 victory against River Ridge last week, Mitchell (11-3-1) faces what Kukec believes is his team's biggest game of the season when it plays host to St. Petersburg on Thursday.

"I consider our team one of the top two teams in Pasco County and one of the top teams in Florida," Kukec said. "But we've got to get out of our district to have any chance to win a state championship. "The game against St. Petersburg is the key, because it determines who comes in second in the district and who has first-round bye in the district tournament."

UNFAMILIAR TERRITORY: Last week's loss at Mitchell may not seem like breaking news, considering the Mustangs needed two goals in the final 10 minutes to win and it was played in a near-torrential downpour.

But when you haven't lost a regular-season game in two years, any sign of weakness is encouraging for opponents.

Still, River Ridge coach Skip Glover isn't close to panicking.

"It was raining so hard and we were so miserable, we just went home afterwards," Glover said of the loss. "We played well, so it's not something that we want them to dwell on at all. In fact, I gave the girls most of the week off to study for exams.

"I'm not going to have special practices to punish them for a loss, because I'm not disappointed in them at all."

A late Mitchell goal broke a 2-all tie and handed River Ridge a 3-2 defeat, its first during the regular season since around Thanksgiving two season's ago. The Rams finished last season undefeated until a loss in a region quarterfinal match and they began this season with 11 victories and a tie (3-3 against Mitchell) before last week's setback.

Still, with goals including district, county and possible state titles still well within reach, Glover is more than ready to provide his team some slack.

"Mitchell is a good team and again, we played well, but came up short" Glover said. "I guess we're allowed to lose a match every now and then."

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