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LOL, Mitchell Face Challenges

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By BART O'CONNELL Tribune correspondent

Published: November 21, 2007

Land O' Lakes and Mitchell are preparing for one of the most prestigious, and challenging, soccer tournaments in the state this weekend.

The Gators and Mustangs are playing in the Puma Challenge Tournament on Friday and Saturday at the Countryside Sportsplex in Clearwater. They are actually competing in separate tournaments, with Land O' Lakes in the six-team Gold division and Mitchell in the eight-team Red division.

"This tournament is getting bigger," Gators coach Mark Pearson said. "The Admiral Cup now named the Soccer Field Invitational is still probably the biggest for high school teams. This is the third year the Puma has hosted high schools, and there is always a tough field and some really top teams."

Land O' Lakes, in Flight B, will play Bloomingdale, in Flight A, Friday afternoon, then begin facing its Flight B rivals, Palm Harbor University on Friday night, and Panama City Beach Arnold Saturday afternoon. Last season, Palm Harbor was the Class 5A state runner-up, and Arnold won Class 4A, District 2. Flight A includes host Countryside, a regional finalist in Class 6A last year.

Mitchell will face Red Flight A opponents Largo on Friday morning, Seminole on Friday evening and Neptune Beach Fletcher on Saturday morning.

The winners of each flight will face the winners of the corresponding flight in their group on Saturday night. Land O' Lakes finished third in this tournament last year. For more information on all the tournaments, visit www.pumatournaments.com.

Bart O'Connell can be reached at

boconnell@pop.tampatrib.com.

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