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Gators Open Tourney With 2 Wins

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By BART O'CONNELL, Tribune correspondent

Published: January 6, 2008

TAMPA - Donned in knit hats, gloves and long-sleeved alternate uniforms, Land O' Lakes' players are doing everything they can to stay warm during the Soccer Field Invitational at Ed Radice Sports Complex.

But the tree-less fields have provided no escape from the sub-30-degree wind chills that have blown through the fields each night the Gators play.

Nonetheless, the weather has done little to slow the Gators. Two games into the tournament, LOL appeared poised to repeat its runner-up performance last year, and possibly surpass it.

Through Thursday's matches, Land O' Lakes was the only Pasco County team to win in the 31-team event. The Gators were 2-0; River Ridge and Pasco were 0-2.

Land O' Lakes opened the tournament with a 2-0 win against Gulf Breeze on goals by Dominic Cutrofello and Frank Villar. On Thursday, LOL beat Berkeley Prep 3-1, overcoming a 1-0 halftime deficit. In addition to an own goal by Berkeley Prep, Sebastian Garcia and Tim Falcon had one goal each for LOL.

"The weather is affecting all the play of everybody," Coach Mark Pearson said. "We definitely started out slow again Thursday. We were in possession 95 percent of the game, but we just weren't finishing and taking shots.

"We kept playing steady and got the win, but we're not playing very well right now."

The success has come without freshman attacker Charles Lynch, who according to Pearson reaggravated a quadriceps injury while playing for his club team. Pearson said Lynch is "a big loss."

FACING THE BIG BOYS: Pasco's Barry Grayling might have experience coaching against some of the top teams in the state, but many of his underclassmen had no idea what it was like to play against those teams until last week.

The Class 4A Pirates lost 3-0 to 5A Niceville and 1-0 to 6A Melbourne, two of the bigger schools they've faced all year. Pasco played without starters David Cano, Trent Sumner and Isaias Carillo.

"The bigger schools you play, the better competition you get," Grayling said, "and a lot of these young boys will have to play in the playoffs, and now they know what it's all about."

The Melbourne game was especially encouraging. Though the Pirates generated few scoring chances, goalkeeper Jacob Pollock had perhaps his best game of the year, making several diving saves to keep Pasco in the game, before the game-winner came late in the second half.

"We played better, a whole lot better than Wednesday," Grayling said. "Jacob and defender Ryan Lowery kept us in the game, basically."

STINGING LOSS: River Ridge didn't look focused in a 6-1 loss to Bradenton Manatee on Thursday, but an even bigger loss came just two minutes into the contest.

Leading scorer Alex Ratkovic was assessed a red card after he muttered an expletive to himself. The standard penalty for such action is a three-game suspension, which would keep him out of district games against Brooksville Central on Tuesday and Wesley Chapel on Friday.

"The referee apologized to me after the game, and said he doesn't want the penalty to be any more than it has to be," River Ridge coach Mike McHugh said. "We were all 17 once. We all mumbled something to ourselves. But the odds are a suspension is going to happen."

Before that, the Knights played a close match with defending Class 4A state champion Ponte Vedra Beach Nease. It was 2-1 midway through the second half before a River Ridge foul in the box led to a penalty kick. Goalkeeper Eric Karcinski saved the PK and a rebound shot, but couldn't stop a second rebound shot that made it 3-1, the final score.

Correspondent Bart O'Connell can be reached at boconnell@

pop.tampatrib.com.

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