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Jesuit Wins As Menendez Scores 2

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By LEE DIEKEMPER, Tribune correspondent

Published: February 9, 2008

TAMPA - Josh Menendez's two goals, both coming in the first four minutes of the second half, lifted Jesuit to a 3-2 win over Bradenton Southeast (19-7) Friday in the Class 5A-Region 3 final. The win vaulted the Tigers into the state semifinals.

As a result, Jesuit will play Wharton in the state semifinals Friday at noon at Lockhart Stadium in Fort Lauderdale. The Tigers (27-2) overcame eight starters racked with the flu or strep throat and disappointing first-half results to break a 1-1 halftime score.

Jesuit, playing on its home ProGrass synthetic turf, used the speed of the surface to dominate everything but the scoreboard in the first half. The Tigers had several near-misses, whether it was shots hitting the crossbar, a post or just missing an open goal by shooting a few feet wide.

"It was real frustrating hitting the post a couple of times and going down 1-0," said Menendez. "It was not a good thing. Once we got the first one in, it was a relief."

Menendez insisted the Tigers weren't getting frustrated despite the number of near-misses. "We were thinking how we were going to score to tie it up and then how we were going to score to win it."

"I didn't see it that way," Southeast coach Laszlo Halmi said. "I don't think it could have been a blowout. We could have had three or four goals easy too. We missed our chances. That's the game. They finished and we didn't.

"We did not have too many shots because we were working the ball around, we crossed the ball. If we came in with a little bit better timing ... you can't blame anything on the turf. We practiced on turf for this game. Until the last second, they were fighting players."

The Tigers came out on fire in the second half, evidenced by Menendez's two goals.

"We talked about that at halftime, that we had to come out quick," said Jesuit forward Ali Van Gurp. "From the beginning I could tell we were supposed to come out here and win this game. The past couple of games we have started out slow. I don't know if everyone is sick or not but we knew we had to pick it up in the second half."

"We could see the first half growing incredible flat," Jesuit coach Bob Bauman said. "We just needed to get a couple of combinations to get behind their defense and that's what we did."

As for playing in the state semifinals, Van Gurp noted he and his teammates have to play more disciplined if they are to return to Tampa next weekend with any hardware.

"Once we get to the semifinals we can't be making these mistakes," Van Gurp said. We have to come out quick from the beginning."

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