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Plant, Hillsborough Reach Final

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By JARRETT GUTHRIE, Tribune correspondent

Published: January 17, 2008

TAMPA - After telling his team who would start the second half, Plant coach Stephen McGill had little to say to his girls soccer team, which was leading Robinson by a goal in the Class 5A-District 10 semifinals. McGill instead left the sideline halftime pep talk to his lone senior, sweeper Chelsea Hearne.

Hearne told her teammates the Panthers needed to have the match in hand by the 20-minute water break.

Plant (12-0-4) listened as it defeated Robinson 4-0.

"One-to-nothing is not a good score for us," Hearne said. "I know these girls and what they need to hear - I said I wanted four goals by water break, we had three and we put the fourth in 40 seconds after that."

Hearne earned the assist on the Panthers' first goal in the 23rd minute after a 25-yard throw-in found Brittany Rudolph, who drilled in a shot. Hearne scored Plant's first goal of the second half after Ellen Moore's corner kick.

For Robinson (6-8-1), freshman goalkeeper Antonia Guzman had 16 saves.

In the first match, Hillsborough defeated Leto 6-0 to reach the final, as Alexa Morse had five goals. Meagan Nelson scored the other goal for the Terriers (10-6-1).

The Falcons fell to 6-8-1.

Berkeley Prep Rallies To Edge St. Pete Catholic

CLEARWATER - Berkeley Prep rallied from a two-goal deficit in the second half and scored its game-winner in the second overtime period to beat St. Petersburg Catholic 3-2 to advance to the Class 3A-District 9 final.

Berkeley Prep will face host Clearwater Central Catholic in the district final. CCC (11-5-3) beat Tampa Catholic 2-0 on two second-half goals from Summer Ewing.

Taylor Bayte scored the game-winning goal at 8:53 of the second overtime period.

Leading 2-0 with less than 12 minutes left, it seemed as if the Barons (15-9-1) had the upper hand.

Rebecca Hurst's rebound shot at 11:55 was the first goal for the Buccaneers (9-9-3), and Whitney Hang's goal with 2:32 left just inside the right post forced overtime.

Lee Diekemper

River Ridge Shuts Out Ridgewood In Semis

NEW PORT RICHEY - River Ridge earned a shot at a third consecutive district championship with its 4-0 victory against Ridgewood on Wednesday night in the Class 5A-District 7 semifinal.

River Ridge (16-1-2) will meet Land O' Lakes (12-8-2) for the third time this season. The Gators eliminated Central 2-0 in the first match.

"They're a good team," River Ridge coach Skip Glover said. "We'll have to be ready. We can't take them lightly that's for sure. Coach Vicky King is always putting together a good side. She'll be ready for us."

Royal Knights forward Corinna Dyl opened the scoring with her shot from the left side of the goal. Deana Rossi knocked in the squad's second goal 29 minutes into the contest, followed by Mikaela Morolla's goal, to go ahead 3-0 at the end of the first half.

Morolla booted her second goal midway through the second half to make it 4-0.

Kendra Nicholson and Nicolle Forcier scored for Land O' Lakes.

Eddie Daniels

Countryside Slips Past Sickles On Penalty Kicks

NEW PORT RICHEY - Countryside girls soccer coach Rob Saltz didn't mince words following his team's 2-1 victory in the Class 6A-District 7 semifinals. By that point he and his players were just happy to have survived.

What appeared to be a closely contested 1-0 victory against Sickles was extended to a pair of overtimes when the Gryphons scored with 3 seconds remaining in regulation.

"To be honest, I really thought we'd be on the bus by now," Saltz said. "But you never know in these kinds of games. Anything can happen."

In the second semifinal, Mitchell battled a steady rain and stiff winds to top visiting Alonso, 1-0.

Katie Kent's goal off a pass from Thea Linkfield 25 minutes into the first half put Countryside (11-5-1) in front, before Keena Tsitsikronis, who'd been stopped on a penalty kick with 10:40 remaining, scored when her direct kick eluded several players in front. When neither team could score in overtime, Countryside advanced when it converted all four of its penalty kicks compared to Sickles' two.

Mitchell (16-3-2) controlled play against Alonso, but couldn't come up with the goal it needed to win. Senior Morgan Schellenberger changed that when she corralled a loose ball in front of the Alonso goal and scored when Ravens goalkeeper Bethany Isaac was caught out of position.

Chris Errington

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