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Future Looks Bright For Ridgewood

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By CHRIS ERRINGTON Tribune correspondent

Published: November 27, 2007

Ridgewood girls soccer coach Melissa Welch is certainly no George Allen.

While the former Washington Redskins coach coined the phrase "The future is now," referring to his penchant for overlooking younger players in favor of more experienced veterans, Welch knows the Rams future is, well, in the future. A pair of outstanding freshman are seeing to that.

Forward Kayla Labbe has quickly stepped in to become an offensive threat with three goals and a pair of assists in six games and center midfielder Amanda DesRoberts, who's added a goal, have Welch believing the next few seasons could be quite enjoyable for Ridgewood.

"I knew Kayla was an outstanding player, but I'm even surprised a bit by how well she's played," Welch said. "And Amanda has done an excellent job for us as well."

Still, with quality freshman talent to anchor the team around, Ridgewood isn't about to concede this season. With senior Chelsea Alicea moving from sweeper to central midfield and responding to the change with a team-leading four goals, it's no surprise the Rams are a very respectable 3-3.

"She's great anywhere on the field," Welch said of Alicea. "We really rely on her because she impacts the whole field."

Now the task with a very youthful team is to take the next step as a program. After beginning the season 3-1, the Rams lost two straight before Monday's game at Mitchell. Ridgewood battles Central on Wednesday before traveling to first-year program Sunlake on Thursday.

"These are some big games coming up for us, so we've got to play extremely well against some very good competition," Welch said.

MAKING DO: Speaking of big weeks, Pasco, already minus two key starters, has one of its biggest of the season coming up.

Wardell Powell's Pirates are 4-2 this season prior to Monday's match-up at Gulf that was the team's first in 12 days, They must also travel to Springstead and battle Zephyrhills this week, possibly setting the tone for the rest of the season, as all three games are against fellow Class 4A-District 8 foes. The Pirates currently are in third place at 1-1 in the district, behind 5-0-1 Hudson and 2-0-1 Springstead.

Surprisingly, the game against Zephyrhills on Friday will be Pasco's first at home this season.

Maybe more surprisingly, the Pirates have been able to outscore their opponents 15-8 without junior sweeper Leeann Eble and sophomore stopper Candice Peters. Peters tore knee ligaments, while Eble suffered a leg injury playing club soccer. According to Powell, Eble may return, but Peters is out for the season.

"We can't do anything about the players we're missing, so we have to go with the players we have healthy," Powell said. "So far at a lot of positions, we've had players step up for us and that's why we've played well this season."

One of those players is sophomore forward Rachael Shields, who leads the team with eight goals and a pair of assists on 31 shots. Four of those goals came in a 7-0 blasting of Hernando on Nov. 8. Bridget Eugenides and Rebecca Hiatt each has contributed a pair of goals for the Pirates.

BACK ON TRACK: The county's only 6A school, Mitchell, suffered a rare loss last week and looks to rebound this week. The Mustangs fell at Sickles 1-0 and played Ridgewood on Monday night before playing host to second-place Countryside tonight.

Mitchell (6-2-1) continues to impress statistically, having outscored its opponents 33-8, with the outstanding trio of Marisa Russo, Shelby Wright and Morgan Shellenberger leading the way with a combined 23 goals.

Last week's loss was the first since a 2-0 setback to open the season at Clearwater Central Catholic.

To submit notebook items, email Chris Errington at cerrington@pop.tampatrib.com

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