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Boys Soccer: Jesuit Outlasts East Lake On PKs

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A Tribune staff report

The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 6, 2009

TAMPA - Considering the Jesuit soccer team had been ravaged by a recent flu bug that has swept through most of the squad, it was little wonder several players needed to receive intravenous fluids during the Tigers' Class 5A-Region 3 quarterfinal against East Lake on Thursday.

What's surprising is that Jesuit was able to play to a 1-1 tie after 80 minutes of regulation, an additional 20 minutes of overtime and deep into a chilly shootout. There, led by a pair of saves by senior goalkeeper Robert Kouwe, the Tigers managed to edge the Eagles 5-4 on penalty kicks.

"I've never come into a game where I felt more unprepared," said Jesuit coach Bob Bauman. "On Monday, we had rain and we had four starters sick. On Tuesday, we had six starters out and on Wednesday, we had five more starters. Since our game last Friday night, we literally didn't have a good training session."

The victory propels Jesuit (24-1-1) into Tuesday's region semifinals, where it will host Palm Harbor University. East Lake (19-2-5), which entered the match ranked No. 20 in one national poll, ends its season for the second straight year with a playoff loss to the Tigers, who are No. 21 in the same poll.

One of the Tigers' few healthy players was Kouwe. He saved one of the Eagles' PKs in the first round to force a second round and, after East Lake keeper David Kirkbride sent his penalty over the bar, Kouwe dove low to his right and saved the shot by Eagles midfielder Brett Hummel to end the match after nearly 21/2 hours of play.

Bill Ward

Freedom Tops River Ridge In OT

Freedom seemed like a team in a big rush with a slim one-goal lead in the second half of Thursday's Class 5A-Region 2 quarterfinal match against River Ridge. The Patriots fired shots without strong setups and saw the Knights tie the match at 2 with just seven minutes left in regulation.

But tenacity paid off as Freedom doubled River Ridge's shot output in the match and senior striker Deion Jones took a pass from Doug Yablun and sent in a right-footed shot to the far post in double overtime to earn the Patriots (14-2-5) a 3-2 win.

Jones also earned an assist on Freedom's second goal of the match, making him the team leader in goals and assists with 12 each.

"Deion is a very skilled player," Patriots coach Dennis Derflinger said. "Twelve goals and 12 assists, he is a huge part of our attack."

The Patriots opened the match's scoring in the second minute on a 30-yard shot from Manny Martes on Freedom's first attempt at the goal.

The Knights (11-10-1) evened the score on a shot by John Thompson on a quick turnaround in the box that crossed the line before being cleared out by Freedom defender Mike Panter.

Vinny Panetta found the back of the net with seven minutes left in regulation.

Jarrett Guthrie

Land O' Lakes Ousts Wharton

LAND O' LAKES - For the past three seasons, one-and-done has been a moniker that has chimed in the ears of Land O' Lakes' coaches and players like the bell atop Big Ben.

In the previous three seasons, Land O' Lakes has lost twice to Freedom and once to Wharton in the region quarterfinals. Thursday night, that bell was silenced when Frank Villar laced a 25-yard shot off a carom, just off Wharton's keeper in the second overtime, giving the Gators (22-2-2) a 2-1 victory.

"It was just an unlucky clearance for them and lucky for me to happen to be there," Villar said of his eighth goal of the season. "It was great pressure from our forward to get that clearance, but like I said, I was lucky to be there."

Villar, who is typically a defender, was moved to a front attacking position 20 minutes into the Class 5A-Region 2 match, Land O' Lakes coach Mark Pearson said.

Wharton (15-8-3) went ahead 1-0 in the 14th minute when Jacob Cohen, inside the goal box, sent a deflected ball into the net.

"It stings," Wharton coach Scott Ware said. "Any loss hurts, especially one that ends your season. And I have nine seniors, many of them I've had for three years now. What a run we've had."

Eddie Daniels

Palm Harbor Stifles Leto 2-0 In 5A-3

PALM HARBOR - A season ago, the Palm Harbor University boys soccer team had its season end in the regional quarterfinal. This time, a stingy defense and timely goals made sure the Hurricanes would advance.

Ben Sweat broke in alone for a first-half goal and Andrew Smith added an insurance penalty kick goal in the second half as Palm Harbor University (20-4-4) dominated in a 2-0 victory against Leto (13-11) in a Class 5A-Region 3 quarterfinal Thursday.

"I told the kids that we needed to come in here and avenge our loss from last year," said PHU coach Alex Delgado. "We said if we could shut them out, we'd get a few goals and advance and that's what we did."

While Sweat and Smith provided all the offense the Hurricanes needed, it was their team defense that completely stifled the Falcons. Goalkeeper Max Gallin needed to make just two saves to earn his 12th shutout of the season.

Chris Errington

Lelii Scores Twice To Pace Seminole

SEMINOLE - Maurice Lelii's two goals were the difference in Seminole's 3-1 win against Punta Gorda Charlotte (9-9-4) in a Class 5A-Region 3 quarterfinal game. But to hear Warhawks coach Rick Masi and some of his players talk, the Warhawks (17-8-3) had significant improvement to make if they are to advance further in the postseason.

"We came out flat," Lelii said. "We started off the game flat. I don't think we played to our potential at all. Like coach said, we played with eight cylinders against Dixie Hollins, six cylinders against Osceola and we played with four cylinders tonight."

One of those cylinders was Lelii. His first goal against Charlotte, which had never played in a region soccer contest in the school's history, came after he raced down the right sideline, received the ball and cut in to his left. He ripped a shot through the keeper's legs.

Lelii put the game away at the 6:14 mark of the second half when Charlotte keeper Josh Bentley made a sprawling save to his right, but Lelii was there to punch in the rebound for a 3-1 Warhawks lead.

Lee Diekemper

Osceola Falls To Lakewood Ranch

BRADENTON - The Osceola Warriors nearly pulled another upset Thursday. But a freak second-half goal made all the difference as host Bradenton Lakewood Ranch (16-3-4) eliminated Osceola (7-9-1) 1-0 in the Class 5A-Region 3 quarterfinals.

Osceola, the fourth seed in its district, controlled play in the first half, but couldn't convert that advantage into a goal. Gerald Popejoy had a strong header off a free kick in the 32nd minute that Mustangs goalie Kyle Medvetz saved in midair with a dive to his left.

In the 66th minute, Lakewood Ranch's Sam Severson took a pass from Michael Puhalovich inside the 6-yard box. His shot was swept off the goal line by Matt DiLeonardo, but it hit goalkeeper Nick Zapata and ricocheted into the goal for the match's lone score.

"I was turning around to look to see where the ball was and the ball was already hitting me in the chest," Zapata said. "It just feels like it's all my fault. I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Anthony Gagliano

Hudson Avenges 2008 Loss

HUDSON - "The curse" seemed to be in full effect for the first 72 minutes of Thursday's Class 4A-Region 2 quarterfinal between Hudson and Orlando Bishop Moore.

At least that's what Cobras senior forward Scotty Combs was thinking, as his squad yet again trailed 1-0 in the regional tournament and had only five shots on goal, unheard of for the high-scoring Hudson attack. But Combs came through with both the tying goal in regulation and game-winner four minutes into overtime to beat Bishop Moore 2-1.

"It's just like breaking the curse. It's just like breaking the ice," said Combs of the win, which avenged a 7-1 loss to Bishop Moore a year earlier and gave Hudson (18-5-3) its first regional win in his four years. "Now I feel a lot more comfortable going into Tuesday regional semifinal now, knowing we got through this, now we can go farther."

Combs worked the ball up the middle, and then darted to the right of the goal before firing a shot across the body of Bishop Moore (12-7-10) keeper Danny Sullivan to the left corner.

Bart O'Connell

Celebration Eliminates Pasco

CELEBRATION - Pasco coach Barry Grayling felt his Pirates played well enough to win Thursday night in the Class 4A-Region 2 quarterfinals against Celebration.

But a couple of close calls went against the Pirates, leading to two goals as the Storm beat Pasco (18-4-3) 2-0 to advance to the region semifinals at Hudson on Tuesday.

"Celebration played its game and that's the long ball and knock it around," said Grayling. "At times they outplayed us and other times we were in the game. When the first goal went in I think it took a little out of us."

Celebration (15-2-2) got on the board in the 67th minute when Pasco goalkeeper Gilbert Tanguma was called for a foul in the penalty box, resulting in a penalty kick. The Storm's Liam Harvey fired the ball past Tanguma for a 1-0 lead.

The Storm added an insurance goal in the 80th minute on a free kick by Alex Sunnarborg.

Rick Harmon

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