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BOYS SOCCER: Mitchell Finally Gets One From Pasco

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By RICK HARMON

Tribune correspondent

Published: November 11, 2008

DADE CITY – Mitchell boys soccer coach Oscar Ubillus knows exactly how Pasco coach Barry Grayling felt after the Mustangs' 3-2 season-opening win against the Pirates.

The past two seasons, Pasco has scored a late goal in each of the meetings between the two teams to earn a tie. It looked like it was going to happen again.

In the 69th minute, Pasco's Juan Davila scored to tie the score at 2 – giving Ubillus that "kiss-your-sister" feeling.

But Mitchell's David Vasquez was going to have one of that. With 4:30 remaining in the game, Vasquez scored his second goal of the game off a pass from Jason Leslie to lift the Mustangs past Pasco in the season's only meeting of two of the top teams in Pasco County.

"This game was the same as the past three years," Ubillus said. "They've tied us up in the last five minutes. We gave them a little bit of what we've felt the last couple years."

Vasquez started the scoring in the 36th minute with an assist from Seam Maser but two minutes later, Pasco tied the score with a goal by Roman Farias on a pass from Daniel Corona.

Rob Coleman put the Mustangs back in front in the 44th minute when he was standing right in front of the net when Vasquez slammed a shot off the cross bar. Coleman fired the shot past Pasco goalkeeper Gilbert Tanguma.

These two teams, along with Land O' Lakes, are still the top Sunshine Athletic Conference teams. Ubillus has mixed emotions about playing such a touch team so early in the season.

"Yes and no," said Ubillus about opening the season with Pasco. "Winning a game like this gives the team a lot of confidence. No because you might want to try some things out so maybe you would want an easier game."

One thing Ubillus saw from his young team was heart and determination.

"We talked about how this team last year lacked a lot of heart," he said. "We got beat by Land O' Lakes and Palm Harbor where we quit on the field and that was inexcusable. We have talked about that and it showed in this game."

With the loss of the county's all-time goal scorer Jose Montelongo (143 total, 48 in 2007), some thought Pasco might be down this year.

Don't tell Pirates coach Barry Grayling that.

"We had two [preseason] games before this so we knew where we were at," Grayling said. "I thought the boys played real well tonight. Some people have written us off but I can tell you we're here to mix it up. We just got unlucky. We didn't mark up on the last goal. We were ready to play. People who think we're written off had better take a second look. We're moving the ball. We're hustling. We're doing everything we need to do to win games."

It doesn't get any easier for either team. Mitchell hosts Berkeley Prep on Wednesday while Pasco travels to Land O' Lakes the same night.

Mitchell 1 2—3
Pasco 1 1—2
Goals—Vasquez 2, Coleman (M); Farias, Davila (P). Assists—Maser, Leslie (M); Corona, Farias (P). Shots on goal—M 14, P 15. Saves—Wallace (M) 7; Tanguma (P) 4. Records—M 1-0, P 0-1.

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