Girls Soccer: PHU claims 6A-7 crown again

For the ninth straight year, a district championship trophy belongs to Palm Harbor University High School.

The defending Class 6A state champs scored twice in the second half to win 2-0 Friday night over visiting St. Petersburg in what was something of a battle of attrition.

A game that appeared to be rolling toward overtime and possible penalty kicks was opened up in the 64th minute by playmaking Hurricanes forward Kelly Phipps. The sophomore timed a run on Cory Amend's through ball down the right side and held off her defender just long enough to beat St. Pete goalkeeper Emilie Vanneste.

Green Devils coach Rui Farias was adamantly lobbying for an offside call from the sideline, but to no avail.

"She came out of nowhere so I didn't know if she was back there or not," Phipps said of the back defender. "But they didn't blow the whistle so I kept going and had an opportunity.

"Specifically before the game (the referee) said don't stop until you hear a whistle."

She didn't, and PHU (17-2) found itself on top 1-0 with about 16 minutes left to play.

The tightly contested match was iced in the 74th minute when speedy freshman Katie Im cut through two defenders inside the St. Pete goal box to receive a through from Anja Decker. Im lunged forward to beat keeper Vanneste to the ball and found the back of the net with an athletic finish.

"The ball was coming from Anja, she hit a through ball and I just tried my best to run it down and beat the defenders," Im said as her teammates were celebrating with their newest piece of hardware.

Both teams were without a number of players due to injury and neither was able to connect on limited opportunities in the first 40 minutes. PHU coach John Planamenta said his team struggled to find its rhythm early against St. Pete's set formation.

"I kept making sure we were okay in the back. I didn't want to push anyone forward, because once I'd do that, (Coach Farias) is good at counterattacking which opens up the gaps and that's what they want."

"They kind of packed it back there but then they'd attack from the outsides," Phipps said. "We were trying to watch out for that because we knew they were going to do it."

Friday night was the third time PHU beat St. Pete this season, winning 2-0 on Nov. 30 and 3-0 on Dec. 13.

St. Pete (13-5) was certainly not without opportunities of its own. In the 16th minute, Green Devils junior Kathryn Pelton struck a corner kick that nearly bent in on its own, but that also made it through the box clean. No St. Pete attacker was able to put a head on the cross.

The Devils nearly capitalized on a PHU mistake about 12 minutes later when a ball slipped through the Hurricane defense with St. Pete's Caroline Krueger in position for a breakaway run from about 30 yards out. A whistle blew the play offside, though.

PHU eventually took full advantage of its late-game opportunities and now finds itself set up for a home region quarterfinal match on Thursday night against the District 6A-8 runner-up. That team will come from Hillsborough County and be either Wharton or Bloomingdale. St. Pete will go on the road to play the 6A-8 finals winner.

The Hurricanes enter the 2011 state tournament as back-to-back state champs. Previous to last year's Class 6A title, PHU won the Class 5A championship in 2009. They will look to extend a 10-game postseason winning streak that dates back to the 2009 region quarterfinal.

BOX SCORE:

St. Pete - 0 - 0 --- 0
PHU - 0 - 2 --- 2

SCORING:

Palm Harbor University

Kelly Phipps (So.) - 1 Goal (64')
Katie Im (Fr.) - 1 Goal (74')
Cory Amend (Sr.) - 1 Assist
Anja Decker - 1 Assist