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Klotz Got Tampa Prep Over Hump

By JARRETT GUTHRIE

Tribune correspondent

Published: May 20, 2008

TAMPA - Striker Chelsea Klotz was just what Tampa Prep needed.

After an exit in the 2007 region semifinals with a 2-1 loss to Sarasota Christian and a 2-0 loss in the 2006 region final against Shorecrest Prep, the addition of Klotz, the Tribune's Hillsborough County Girls Soccer Athlete of the Year, may have been that little extra - if you can call 64 goals in a season a "little extra."

"We've been knocking on the door for the last couple of years," Terrapins coach Pam Smith said. "You add Chelsea to the mix and it gave us that extra two goals a game and that's what we needed.

"If I had Chelsea the last three years then we probably would have been in the finals three years in a row."

Tampa Prep's Class 2A state championship season was an ever-changing story. It went early from critics saying the team's schedule was soft, as the Terrapins opened the season outscoring opponents 56-5 in their first 10 matches.

"In general people complained that we start slow in the season due to our district being weak," Smith said. "But that can't be held against us."

Then the talk of not being able to match up with opponents in other classes began to spread. But after the Sarasota Holiday Classic, which Tampa Prep won by defeating St. Petersburg Catholic, eventual 5A-8 district champion Bloomingdale, 6A-6 district champion and 6A final four team Melbourne and 4A-15 district champ and regional finalist Fort Lauderdale Cardinal Gibbons, that talk disappeared.

Through all of the talk, the play of Klotz (who transferred for her senior season from Altamonte Springs Lake Brantley) was consistent and steady. Smith said coming into the season she had heard about Klotz, who moved to be closer to her RSL club soccer team, but didn't have a real idea of her talent before the first Terrapins game.

"Obviously I had heard about her from the other girls she plays club with," Smith said. "They told me she was fast and had a strong foot, but you don't realize how fast she is - you don't understand the moves she has, until you see it."

Smith, who was The Tampa Tribune Girls Soccer Coach of the Year, is quick to point out it may have been Klotz's mere presence on the pitch that mattered on a team whose second-leading scorer, junior striker Paige Goodwin, had 29 goals.

"Against the quality teams they had a choice either you mark Klotz with your strongest player and the rest of a good team is enough to win," Smith said. "Or, you let her go and she is going to score."

The numbers for Klotz, who will play at the University of South Florida next season, speak for themselves as the Terrapins went 26-1-1 on the season. Klotz had six four-goal games, eight three-goal games and six two-goal games. She only had four single-goal games and only went scoreless in two games.

"Sixty-four goals in a season is pretty good," Smith said, laughing. "Some people look to 64 goals in a high school career and she did it in a year. A season. One season."
GIRLS SOCCER FIRST TEAM

Chelsea Klotz, Tampa Prep, F, Sr.

Paige Goodwin, Tampa Prep, F, Jr.

Malissa Gallogly, Cambridge, MF, Sr.

Ana Cate, Newsome, MF, Jr.

Megan Wall, Tampa Prep, MF, Jr.

Taylor Richardson, Tampa Prep, MF, Jr.

Chelsea Hearne, Plant, D, Sr.

Rudi Rodriguez, Newsome, D, Sr.

Carrie Field, Tampa Prep, D, Sr.

Rachel Sandora, East Bay, D, Sr.

Christina Coca, Bloomingdale, GK, Jr.

Coach of the Year: Pam Smith, Tampa Prep