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Berkeley Prep Advances to State Final

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By NICHOLAS MURRAY | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 20, 2009

TAMPA - TAMPA Since they began playing together in middle school, players like T.J Roehn, Eri Jacobs and Joey Rosati have been thinking about 'That Day.'

Now, 'That Day', and the chance for a state championship is here.

Roehn and Jacobs each scored, as did J.D. Post, and the Buccaneers advanced to the Class 3A boys soccer final with a convincing 3-0 win against Fort Lauderdale Pine Crest at Pepin Stadium on Friday afternoon.

"We were always waiting, always getting better and better, and now 'That Day' is [today]," Rosati said.

Playing a defensive-minded Pine Crest team that had won each of its Region tournament games 1-0, including one in a shootout, the Buccaneers started fast. They took the lead in the 10th minute as Jacobs found Post cutting into the left side of the Panthers penalty area, and Post finished clinically low into the bottom left corner of the net.

"We kind of figured they'd try to bunker in, and I thought it was key for us to get that early goal," Buccaneers coach Tim Cooper said. "I think that goal helped us settle down, and start knocking the ball around, and by the end of the first half they were pretty much chasing the game."

A second goal came 10 minutes later on an exceptional finish by Roehn. After a long throw-in by Rosati from the left was only half-cleared to the edge of the penalty area, Roehn trapped the ball, flicked it onto his right foot, and volleyed a shot into the top left corner.

Pine Crest (16-5-3) came into the game in the second half, and Berkeley goalkeeper Alex Jenkins had to be sharp on a couple of occasions to maintain the Buccaneers' two-goal lead.

"I think the main difference was we were slow-starting, and they finished their chances," Pine Crest coach Miguel Martin said. "The chances they had, they really finished them. We had a few clear chances in the second half that we didn't put in the back of the net, and that ended up being the difference."

Jacobs put the game out of reach with 15 minutes to go, after another long throw-in from Rosati. Kevin Harvey had his initial volley blocked, but the ball came to Jacobs on the right of the penalty area, and he volleyed into the left corner of the net.

Now the Buccaneers (24-2), many of whom were on an undefeated middle school team when their 2004 counterparts won the school's last state title, get a chance to win the school's fifth championship Saturday. To do that, they will need to beat Jacksonville Bolles, which defeated Lake Highland Prep 3-2 in overtime in the first semifinal. Cooper said he sees a lot of the Buccaneers in the way the Bulldogs play.

"They're physical, they remind me of [us] with the long throws," Cooper said. "They scored a couple of goals off their long throws and corner kicks, so I think it's going to be a good test for us. Usually we've played Bolles every year for the last 19 years, and this year we happened not to have them on our schedule, it's kind of fitting we end up playing them in the final."

Nicholas J.E. Murray can be reached at (813) 259-8243.

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