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Jesuit Stings Palm Harbor

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A Tribune staff report

Published: February 1, 2008

TAMPA - Less than 5 minutes into Thursday night's Class 5A regional quarterfinal, from 25 yards out, Jesuit's Keith Sierra set a soccer ball in front of him. A wall of Palm Harbor players lined up between Sierra and the goal.

Sierra then sent a ball around the wall, which sailed above the goal and dipped enough to ricochet off the left post and into the net.

"It was one of the best shots I've ever seen in my life," Palm Harbor coach Alex Delgado said. "It was beautiful. It also hurt."

From there Jesuit never looked back cruising onto a 3-0 victory.

"I told our guys that the most important time was the first 5 minutes," Delgado said. "I don't know if we were overwhelmed with playing at such a great facility Jesuit's home field and against such a great program. I don't know, but we didn't seem to settle in until after Jesuit had its 2-0 lead."

Sierra said, "The match went exactly like we wanted it to go: Get on them early and keep applying the pressure."

About 2 minutes after Sierra's bender, Josh Menendez scored the Tigers' second goal on a penalty kick.

"That was great, getting up 2-0 early like that, but as I've told our guys a million times, a 2-0 lead is the most dangerous," Jesuit coach Bob Bauman said. "When you get up 2-0 then the other team gets a goal and gets momentum and things can fall apart. So when we got that third goal (midway through the second half on a breakaway by Russell Moore), that was the one that really put us over the top."

Now Jesuit (25-2) moves on to play in Tuesday's regional semifinal at East Lake, a team that defeated Palm Harbor (19-3-2) in the district final, and a team that Tigers coach Bob Bauman expects to give his squad all it can handle.

"East Lake is a team that never gives up," Bauman said. "They're tough, but we know what we're getting ourselves into. I think we'll be ready."

Scott Purks

East Lake Scores Early, Often Against Plant

TARPON SPRINGS - Host East Lake began the game with an offensive barrage, scoring three goals in the first 18 minutes including two in a seven-minute span in a 6-1 win over Plant Thursday. With the win in the Class 5A region quarterfinals, East Lake will host Jesuit Tuesday.

Jesuit advanced to the region semifinals with a 3-0 win over Palm Harbor.

Josh Gonzalez and Juan Alcala each had a pair of goals for East Lake (Gonzalez added three assists). Gonzalez, Alcala and Drew Petzoldt, comprising the Eagles front line, used its overwhelming speed and ball-handing skills to suffocate Plant offensively. The Panthers never did have an answer.

"All three of us up top, not many teams can handle that," Alcala said. "We had a lot of chances. I don't think I've ever had two goals and three assists, at least not this year."

"Their forwards, we didn't have an answer," Plant coach Chad Ebright said. "Gonzalez just dominated. Their whole front line was just overpowering. The first two goals were breakdowns on our part and then we began to press and we didn't have it to come back. You are not going to beat that team with long balls over the top."

After Petzoldt's first goal at 32:16 of the first, when he fired in a shot off a free kick from the left side, Gonzalez netted the next two for a quick 3-0 lead. His first came off a centering pass from the left side, making up for missing a wide-open goal on similar play just minutes before.

"Every single game is 100 percent, it doesn't matter who it is," said Alcala. "Our technique is to score quick and keep coming.

Gonzalez' second goal came on a near desperation play. In traffic, a desperate centering pass from the right side looked to miss Gonzalez. But he reached out with his left foot about as far as he could and poked the ball in for a 3-0 lead.

"We know each other real well, I always know where he is," Gonzalez said of his chemistry with Alcala."

"When we get in a rhythm and a flow, we play some of the most attractive soccer I've seen," said East Lake coach Sergei Stopek. "We move the ball very nicely and we have speed up top. When we share the ball it's fun to watch."

The only bright spot for Plant was when the Panthers used some offensive pressure to try to crawl back in the game.

After a direct kick, Trevor Berecz drilled a rebound in at the 38-minute mark of the second.

Lee Diekemper

Southeast Battles Back To Stun Seminole

SEMINOLE - A game dominated by defense suddenly turned into an offensive scramble as Bradenton Southeast (18-6-1) defeated host Seminole (14-9-2), 4-3, in a boys Class 5A regional quarterfinal overtime soccer game Thursday night.

Seminole had fought its way back from a 3-1 deficit, scoring the tying goal with less than a minute remaining in regulation. But with 7:03 left in the first overtime period, Southeast senior Sean Moreau headed a shot into the net from about 10 feet away, suddenly ending the Warhawks' season.

Seminole dominated the first half and only 16 minutes remained before Southeast's defense got off its first shot.

In the seventh minute, Seminole's Eric Adams scored. Southeast came back when Lor Gregor scored with an assist from Andres Bustamante, leaving the teams tied at 1-1 at halftime.

Southeast goalkeeper freshman Dustin Clark kept his team in the game as he faced 31 Warhawk shots. Seminole goalkeeper sophomore Andrew Goffe was also steady.

The visiting Seminoles took a 3-1 lead in the second half with two goals by senior Isaac Lima. It appeared as though the third Southeast goal was the dagger that would finish Seminole. But the home team fought back, getting a header from Matt Hochsprung to cut the lead to 3-2. With only seconds left, Troy Cobb tied it and the teams faced overtime.

" I am very proud of our team," said Southeast coach Laszlo Halmi. "We really just want to soak up this victory. This team has made history. No team from our school has made it this far before. We usually get knocked out in the first round of the regionals."

Seminole was making its eighth consecutive trip to the regional playoffs while Southeast was playing at that level for the second straight season.

Mike Moore

Manatee Finds Right Combination

BRADENTON - Manatee High head boys soccer coach Rene Mirandilla has been looking for the right combination on offense since his leading scorer left school last month due to early graduation.

The coach moved Will Kretzmann from defense to fulltime forward and the senior showed his thanks when he scored two goals in leading Manatee to a 3-0 Class 5A-Region 3 quarterfinal round victory over Northeast.

Kretzmann's two goals gave him seven for the season and he seemed a little surprised about his sudden scoring prowess. He scored his first goal with 2:52 left in the first half on a shot from about 15 yards out with an assist from Exon Menjivar to give Manatee a 1-0 lead at intermission.

About nine minutes into the second half, Kretzmann added his second goal on an assist from Alex Torres. The 'Canes wrapped up the game with 11:35 remaining on a goal by Nick Kallis.

Alan Dell

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