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Indians Hoping To Start State Run In District

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By JARRETT GUTHRIE, Tribune correspondent

Published: January 14, 2008

East Bay is a confident team entering the Class 6A-District 8 tournament beginning Tuesday at Durant. And the Indians should be.

With a decisive 6-0 run in its regular-season games against district opponents and a scoring differential of 23-2, the Indians are the top seed in the tournament and are planning to put behind them a regional quarterfinal exit to Countryside last year.

"We are incredibly confident," senior team captain Kelly Leeper said. "Our team has a real drive after last year's loss in regional.

"Last year was a blow to our hearts. District was such an accomplishment and we were so excited heading into regional and when we lost - it was heartbreaking."

The Indians' (12-1) only loss was a 1-0 defeat to Newsome on Nov. 15. The Wolves' goal came when a scramble for the ball in front of East Bay's goal was shot in by forward Hannah Rainey. While high winds hampered both teams, the Indians were able to play competitively with one of last season's final four teams.

Since the loss, the Indians have had seven shutouts in eight games, including an 8-0 win in its final match Friday against Jefferson. Against the Dragons, East Bay scored seven goals in the opening half. The first came from a nice pass from Lauren Verbosky, who found Brittany Cox who struck the deciding goal. The goal gave Cox, a sophomore, a team-high 14 goals for the season.

"We've had a couple of nice surprises from our underclassmen this year," Coach Claudine Sosa said. "Brittany is a spunky player, she doesn't every give up; she's running for everything."

Offensively, the Indians have many threats with Leeper contributing 10 goals on the season and senior Julie Rolfe with eight goals and junior Lindsey Rankin adding seven goals and eight assists. On defense, the Indians platoon a strong group led by senior captain Rachel Sandora that has kept opposing forwards stifled late in the season. Sophomore goalkeeper Andrea Owens has spent every minute in goal and has 41 saves.

The Indians have succeeded with big assists from its coaching staff as well, with Sosa missing most of the season while on maternity leave. Filling in for Sosa was first-year assistant coach Becky Wickham along with Sosa's husband Albert Sosa. Claudine Sosa returned to the team for games in late December.

"This is a team that has really grown up together," Wickham said. "Their energy and how they know what each other is going to do is what makes this team work and will take them a long way."

Both Wickham and Sosa pointed to this team's cohesiveness as its main strength heading into the district playoffs.

"We are going to be a force to be reckoned with in district," Wickham said. "We've seen everyone in this district and these girls have been working their butts off."

Jarrett Guthrie can be reached at jguthrie@pop.tampatrib.com. Keyword: Prep Sports, for an expanded look at the top seeds in Hillsborough County tournaments.

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