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Tampa Prep Tops Pesky Indian Rocks

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A Tribune staff report

Published: January 28, 2009

TAMPA - It was a Class 2A-District 10 semifinal, a boys soccer game Tampa Prep has had little trouble with the past few years.

Welcome to 2009 and a tough team from Indian Rocks Christian, which gave the Terrapins everything they could handle for 80 minutes Tuesday night before succumbing 2-1.

"It was tough and we knew it would be," said Anthony Baumann, who scored both of Tampa Prep's goals on penalty kicks. "I think difference was our experience. We've been through tough playoff games before winning three state titles in the past four years. We knew what we had to do to win."

Tampa Prep (9-4-3) actually trailed 1-0 after the first half, but never seemed to worry, especially after a little perspective was emphasized by Coach Doug Smith.

"What it came down to was hard work," Baumann said. "The game was sloppy and we just had to keep working and we felt something would go our way."

Baumann's tying goal came in the 42nd minute when he was tackled in the box. His penalty kick ricocheted off the hands of Indian Rocks keeper Kollin Woodbury. Baumann picked up the deflected ball and chipped it into a relatively wide open net. Then, in the 76th minute on his second penalty kick, after getting tackled in the right corner of the box, Baumann drilled the winner into the net's left corner.

Tampa Prep moves on to host Friday's district final at 7 p.m. against Cambridge, which defeated Calvary Christian 3-0 in the night's first semifinal.

Scott Purks

B. McLaughlin To Face AATL

SPRING HILL - For the second consecutive year, Bishop McLaughlin and Academy at the Lakes will meet in the Class 2A-District 9 boys soccer championship game.

Academy at the Lakes earned another shot at the Hurricanes by defeating Hernando Christian 2-0 Tuesday while host Bishop McLaughlin downed Carrollwood Day 8-0. The Hurricanes (10-8-1) have won the previous five meetings, including twice this season (2-1, 2-0). In last year's district final, Bishop McLaughlin won 6-0.

Academy at the Lakes (6-3-2) got second-half goals from Daniel Pitcarin and Kartik Mehta as the Wildcats beat Hernando Christian (5-9-4) for the fourth time this season.

Wildcats coach Don Bellefeuille stressed to his team at halftime the importance of getting that first goal early in the second half. Pitcarin delivered in the 45th minute.

"There are things you work on all year and we stopped doing them in the first half," Bellefeuille said. "We had to remind them of some of the fundamentals. I told them if we did those fundamentals, we would score a goal within 5 minutes and another within 10 minutes."

It took 20 minutes for Mehta to get that second goal but the point was made.

In the second semifinal, Bishop McLaughlin scored early and often as the top-seeded Hurricanes were too much for Carrollwood Day (0-11). Six different Hurricanes scored goals with Daniel Ramirez and Chris Pirrello scoring two each. Matt Gulau recorded five assists and when Pirrello scored in the 50th minute, the game was stopped.

Rick Harmon

Northside Upsets Admiral Farragut

ST. PETERSBURG - Third-seeded Northside Christian (6-7-2) scored with less than three minutes gone in the game, and went on to defeat second-seeded Admiral Farragut (7-7) 2-0 in the Class 2A-District 11 boys soccer semifinals at Shorecrest on Tuesday.

Jeremy Smith scored the early goal for the Mustangs, and Seth Rogers nailed the other on a 25-yard free kick. Rogers had an assist on Smith's goal.

"Our guys were awesome," NCS coach Eric Macke said. "Admiral Farragut had defeated us two times during the season and we really wanted this one."

The Mustangs will face Shorecrest in the title game Friday at 7:30 p.m.

After giving up a quick goal, host Shorecrest (15-3-3) hit for four first-half scores, and rolled past Keswick Christian (4-15-1) 6-1.

The top-seeded Chargers will be seeking their fourth district crown in a row.

Shorecrest was paced by Pinellas County scoring leader Stephen Spanos, who added three more goals to his total. The senior now has 43 scores in 21 games.

Mike Moore

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