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Tigers Relish Invitational's Challenge

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By NICHOLAS J.E. MURRAY

nmurray@tampatrib.com

Published: December 20, 2008

Now in its 15th season, the High School Invitational Soccer Tournament begins at the Ed Radice Sports Complex in northwest Tampa on Saturday with another strong field present.

While Jesuit is no longer officially the tournament's host, Tigers coach Bob Bauman says there is a sense of pride his team takes in performing well at a tournament they have had great success at in the past.

"I think the players, because of the historical significance of the tournament, the fact that it's been around 15 years, the players take a lot of pride in wanting to make it through to the championship bracket on the last day," Bauman said. "I think they take a lot of pride in trying to win the title. I think it means more to them than some other tournament they play in during the year."

This year, the Tigers have drawn Durant, Mitchell and Tallahassee Lincoln in pool play, a group that on the surface appears one of the toughest in an event that features two defending state champions and three other final four team from last season. Durant enters its match with Jesuit tonight undefeated, and Coach Jamin Hollingsworth says his players are excited to be playing in this tournament.

"The kids are all excited," Hollingsworth said. "Once I realized we would have the full team there I went to the boys and asked them if they wanted to do this, and they said yeah, so they're real excited. They want to test themselves against the best competition, and we'll definitely have that going for us."

With the winning school having to play five games in four days, including four in the final two if a team advances to the championship bracket, Bauman said the tournament can be one of attrition at times. That said, the top teams usually rise to the occasion. Bauman and Tampa Prep coach Doug Smith said they both expect to find out a lot about their teams, especially how their bench players will react to the opportunity to step up.

Tampa Prep lost its first game of the season Friday afternoon, 3-2 to Bradenton St. Stephen's, and looked like a team that had just taken 10 days off. Smith said it would be good for the team to get back on the field quickly, which it will today against Sickles, as it gears up for the state playoffs little more than a month away.

"It's a tournament that's high-prestige and good competition," Smith said. "We're fired up for it. I told the guys that after this game at St. Stephen's and the four or five games we play at the tournament, we're going to know where we stand. We're heading into the last month."

Bauman thinks that feeling of knowing where a team stands at the end is something that keeps teams coming back to Tampa each December.

"The whole idea of the tournament has been to prepare teams for that stretch run in the regular season and for the playoffs," Bauman said. "And every year this tournament has proven to be very valuable for a tournament team."

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