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Girls Soccer Roundup: Durant, East Bay In 6A-8 Final

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A Tribune staff report

The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 22, 2009

RIVERVIEW - The surprising thing about Wednesday's first semifinal of the Class 6A-District 8 tournament wasn't that No. 3 Durant defeated No. 2 Sarasota Riverview. The surprising thing was the final score: Cougars 4, Rams 0.

In Wednesday's late semifinal, however, there was no surprise as No. 1 seed East Bay thrashed No. 5 Lakeland 6-0. It was a victory that set up Friday's anticipated rematch of longtime rivals, the latest version of which Durant won 1-0 on Dec. 9.

"We can't wait," East Bay coach Claudine Sosa said. "When we played Durant the first time we were a completely different team from the one we are now. The last time we played we had a completely different lineup.

"Now we feel ready. I think we're peaking at the right time."

In the near-freezing temperatures of Wednesday's late game, the Indians (9-2) were almost perfectly in sync, scoring in all sorts of ways from a variety of players: Delaney Poli, Lauren Verbosky, Rachel LoBrutto, Kendall MacDonald and two from Brittany Cox.

"We were very controlled tonight," Sosa said. "Very much in control."

The same could be said for Durant, especially in the second half when the Cougars scored all four of their goals - two from Gillian Sweet and one each from Caitlin Dever and Christy Faliero, who also had two assists.

Durant (11-6-1) got things rolling in the 45th minute when Faliero sent a corner kick to the head of Dever, who shot it low past the keeper. About two minutes later, Sweet chipped one in the back of the net, a goal that seemed to take the life out of Sarasota Riverview (14-8-1).

"We're expecting a great match Friday at Riverview High," Sosa said.

Scott Purks

LOL, River Ridge To Meet Again

NEW PORT RICHEY - For 58 minutes, Land O' Lakes and Brooksville Central ran up and down the field with neither team gaining much of an advantage in the Class 5A-District 7 semifinals at Ridgewood.

But in the 59th minute, Land O' Lakes' Arielle Le-Tran was called for a trip in the penalty box, giving the Bears a penalty shot. The shot, taken by Central's Ashley Custodro, was driven right into the arms of Gators goalkeeper Tara Marshall, who made the save.

That play seemed to give the Gators a lift. In the 61st minute, Andrea Hess scored the only goal of the game as the Gators advanced to the district championship game for the 15th time in 16 years with the 1-0 win against Central (6-11-4).

Land O' Lakes (13-9) will play top-seeded River Ridge in Friday's title game for the fourth consecutive year. The Royal Knights beat host Ridgewood 2-0 in the other semifinal. Both teams will advance to the region quarterfinals Jan. 29.

"We did not underestimate them," Land O' Lakes coach Vicky King said. "We knew it would be tough to beat them a third time. We were kind of flat-footed toward the ball but we picked it up after the penalty kick. Hopefully the girls know what it will take Friday night. We've played two good games against River Ridge."

River Ridge (16-2) dominated play most of the game against Ridgewood, outshooting the Rams 28-2 and held them to zero shots until the 77th minute. But the three-time defending district champ Royal Knights couldn't put the Rams away.

"I know what we'll practice today," River Ridge coach Skip Glover said. "It's hard to get upset. We played well. We just couldn't finish."

The Royal Knights scored in the 38th minute on a goal by Mikaela Morolla after pelting Rams goalkeeper Brittany Martin with 12 first-half shots. But Ridgewood (4-13) was still in the game and got two quick shots on Royal Knights keeper Lisa Jadick in the 77th minute but Jadick made both saves.

Corinna Dyl added an insurance goal in the 80th minute for River Ridge.

Rick Harmon

Palm Harbor, East Lake Win

TARPON SPRINGS - Catherine Brinkman had a busy night with a goal and two assists as top-seeded Palm Harbor University (16-2) rolled to a 3-0 win against Tarpon Springs (10-7-1) and joined East Lake in the final of the Class 5A-District 9 girls soccer tournament. East Lake registered a 5-1 victory against Clearwater.

The championship game will be at East Lake on Friday at 7 p.m. Both teams advance to the regional quarterfinals Jan. 29.

The Hurricanes have handed East Lake its only three losses this season.

PHU took a 3-0 halftime lead and made it stand up as Tarpon Springs battled all the way. Paige Lombard and Oueli Ornelas also scored first-half goals for the defending district champs.

Tarpon Springs goalkeeper Jess Amlaw was a bright spot for the Spongers with 10 saves.

Second-seeded East Lake (15-3) took a 5-1 victory against Clearwater (10-7-1) at home Wednesday night in the semifinals.

Tatiana Perez and Leah Fischer each scored two goals and Rachel Kay added one more. The Eagles broke open a close game after leading 1-0 at the half.

Alvia McDaniel scored Clearwater's only goal.

Mike Moore

Plant, Hillsborough Make 5A-10 Final

TAMPA - Plant decisively earned a fourth straight Class 5A-District 10 final match against Hillsborough by defeating host team Leto 8-0 in the first half of Wednesday's semifinal match. The Terriers, on the other hand, won a 1-0 decision against Chamberlain, prevailing 3-0 in penalty kicks.

Plant and Hillsborough will play in the final Friday at 7 p.m. at Leto.

In the first match, Hillsborough had solid chances throughout the match's two halves and the two 10-minute overtimes but were unable to get past the solid play of Chiefs keeper Jordyn Carter, who had 17 saves.

In the penalty kick shootout Alexa Morse, Emily Szabo and Morgan Parker struck for the Terriers, while the Terriers were unable to find the back of the net with two shots off target and one knocked away by Hillsborough keeper Amber Davis. The Chiefs did have an interesting chance early in the first half when a shot by Kaylin Miglin appeared to score as the ball hit the far post on the inside of the goal and bounced once before being knocked away by Davis, but officials ruled it wasn't a goal.

In the second match, the Panthers struck early when a pass from Andrea Smith found Linzy Rakestraw, who sent in the decider to the far post. Junior Ellen Moore had two goals for Plant, while Molly Ganther, Connor Zwetsch, Abby Meckley, Kaitlyn Steckel and Brittany Rudolph each scored. Rudolph's goal came with less than a minute left in the first half, ending the match early. The Panthers held possession nearly all of the game and didn't allow Leto a shot on goal.

Jarrett Guthrie

Seminole To Face Osceola In 5A-11

SEMINOLE - Seminole's blizzard of first-half goals in near-frigid conditions thwarted Northeast and by halftime, the mercy rule extended to the huddled masses in the stands as Seminole (12-1-1) beat Northeast (9-8-2) 9-0 in the Class 5A-District 11 semifinals.

Seminole will host Osceola, which beat Dixie Hollins 8-0, in the final at 7 p.m. Friday.

The Warriors were in control from the outset and they scored their first goal three minutes into the half. Gina Hayduke knocked it in after a corner kick caromed off the cross bar. Hayduke and Noel Forsman each had a pair of goals while Megan Lawrence contributed her hat trick to the Warriors' effort. Alison Maricone and Alana Anderson topped off the night with a goal each.

"I always like getting the most goals. I'm very competitive. I felt that since the forwards had two, I had to get that last one," Lawrence said.

In the other semifinal, Osceola (13-4-1) needed a full 80 minutes to get through Dixie Hollins (6-10-1), but was successful in applying consistent pressure on the opposing goal and maintaining possession throughout the game for an 8-0 victory.

Alexis Robbins opened things up with her fourth-minute header on an assist from Tori Storz and finished with two goals. Katrina Martinez punched in two long-distance shots with her powerful right foot. Marissa Mitchell and Brooke Popejoy each scored a goal apiece. Alexis Irwin came off the bench and scored two.

Matthew Parke

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