TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Cox Helps East Bay Eliminate Alonso

ADVERTISEMENT

By JEFF BERLINICKE

Tribune correspondent

Published: February 4, 2009

TAMPA -
Brittany Cox was on the field in agony, not moving for several minutes early in Tuesday night's Class 6A-Region 2 semifinal.

She finally got up, then scored three goals to lead East Bay over host Alonso 6-2. Cox said she was in pain but decided there was some unfinished business on the field.

"My back hurt and I could barely move. Then I said, 'I am not coming out,'" Cox said. "Nothing was keeping me down or out. I was playing no matter what. As soon as I got back on the field it stopped hurting at all. It was too cold to feel any pain."

Cox had some help from her teammates. Delaney Poll scored twice and Lindsey Rankin scored the first goal of the game.

East Bay coach Claudine Sosa said the key for her team was to come out strong in the second half when the score was 1-all.

"We just needed to stay calm," Sosa said. "We knew it was all or nothing, so it was easy to just play our game."

The Indians (13-3-2) jumped to a 1-0 lead when Rankin snaked between two defenders to score, but Alonso (13-6) came back seconds later when Tifani Mullen scored.

That's how it stood until East Bay took charge in the second half.

Cox scored her first goal, then, minutes later, lofted a shot into the goal and the Indians were never threatened again. Poll scored her first goal minutes later to make it 4-1, and she deked two defenders and scored easily to make it 5-1.

Mullen scored her second goal to make it 5-2 late in the second half, but Cox took a pass in front of the goal and scored easily just before time ran out on Alonso's season.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT