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Setbacks Helped Push Terps, Wolves Forward

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By JARRETT GUTHRIE Tribune correspondent

Published: February 1, 2008

TAMPA - It's true that a good team is judged on wins in a season. That is how a team is remembered - at least until the next season.

But let's look briefly at how good teams can be helped, maybe even made whole, by their losses.

Cases in point: Hillsborough's two surviving girls soccer teams, Newsome (16-2) and Tampa Prep (23-1-1).

Both teams were confident late in the regular season, and rightly so, but both teams were changed by late losses. Both teams have responded to those setbacks.

For the Terrapins, a strong showing in winning the Sarasota Holiday Classic on Dec. 21-22, when they picked up wins against tough competition like Bloomingdale and Melbourne, seemed to make the team incredibly confident.

However, after a nearly two-week break for the holidays, Tampa Prep came was flat in its first game back and played to a 1-1 tie against Mitchell (another regional finalist). The loss was not a huge letdown, as a strong Mitchell team looked just as tentative.

But if this was the Terrapins' wake-up call, the team hit the snooze button. The real wake-up call seemed to come two matches later, when they fell 3-2 to eventual Class 5A-District 6 champion Lakeland Jenkins.

"We had a strong start, but tying Mitchell and losing to George Jenkins didn't really set us back," forward Paige Goodwin said. "It did push us, because we realized that that was a reality and you can't win everything.

"We couldn't go undefeated this season. I think that has really pushed us because now we've been down, so if we fall behind in the playoffs, now we know we can come back."

In its five games (one regular season, four in the postseason) since the sole loss of the season, the Terrapins have ripped through competition, defeating opponents 32-2.

"This team builds off of each other," said Tampa Prep midfielder Taylor Richardson. "Our attitude got a little shaky during parts of the season, but as the year progressed we realized that this really matters to us."

For the Wolves, their losses seemed to hit closer to home, literally and figuratively, as both came at the hands (or perhaps feet) of nearby rival and district champion Bloomingdale. On Dec. 4, the Bulls took Newsome to task and earned a 1-0 win, and they also won the rematch for the district title by the same score on Jan. 18. Before the teams' third meeting in the Jan 29 regional semifinal, Newsome seemed to have a more laid-back look.

Wolves coach Kelly Townsend spoke to it before the match, putting it all on the team's shoulders.

"They know what they have to do," Townsend said. "In my opinion, Bloomingdale is the one who has to prove something here, they are the district champs."

The play of the Wolves however, didn't show through in any way as laid back. The match was highly competitive as both teams were aggressive. Bloomingdale held possession for a good portion of the first half, but then Newsome's speed showed up.

The Wolves scored late in the first half on a shot by Hannah Rainey, then picked up two more goals in the second from Karina Gutsche and Kellie Fowke to advance to the region final with a 3-0 win.

"Those losses were then," Rainey said. "This one was the one that matters."

Maybe winning isn't everything, but for these teams it's the only thing left.

Tampa Prep will host Bradenton's St. Stephens in the region final, while Newsome will travel to Lakeland Jenkins. Both games are tonight at 7.

Correspondent Jarrett Guthrie can be reached a jguthrie@pop.tampatrib.com.

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