No. 6 Blue Jays are too much for Tigers

Jesuit twice held a lead against ESPN Rise No. 6 New Orleans Jesuit, but the Blue Jays scored three goals in the second half to rally for a 4-2 victory at the High School Soccer Classic at the Ed Radice Sports Complex on Saturday night.

The Blue Jays could have taken the lead in the first minute, when Patrick Culotta shot wide after a poor goal kick allowed him the chance at a goal. The Blue Jays squandered another pair of chances before the Tigers took the lead in the ninth minute, with Chase Goodwin rising at the far post to head home Brett Durrance's corner kick.

The Blue Jays continued to create chances, and they finally converted one in the 30th minute as a corner from the left was knocked down at the far post by Brandon Cohen, and Patrick Warwick stabbed a shot home from inside the 6-yard box. The Tigers retook the lead just before halftime, though, when Durrance was fed the ball by Tyler Hartlage, and Durrance finished into the left corner of the net.

The Blue Jays would tie it off another corner four minutes into the second half, with Alex Petrou scoring off a rebound from close in.

The Tigers had a pair of chances to retake the lead, with Durrance seeing his free kick flick off the top of the defensive wall and go off the post, and a shot by Jordan Hayes was stopped by a good save.

The Blue Jays went ahead at the hour mark when Steven Cabos flicked a shot in with the outside of his right foot to make it 3-2. Cabos added his second with just under 10 minutes to go, but the wind had already been taken out of the Tigers' sails.

"It was a good game," Tigers coach Bob Bauman said. "When we went down 3-2, it seemed like our heads went down a little bit, and they had broken our backs a little bit, because we didn't seem to have any more energy to get back in the game."

Elsewhere, Land O' Lakes opened with a victory, with Tim Falcon's first-half goal lifting the Gators past Montverde Academy 1-0, and Palm Harbor's Ben Sweat scored the only goal of the game in the Hurricanes' 1-0 win against Lake Mary.

Gaither, Seminole and Countryside lost their openers, the Cowboys losing 1-0 to Orlando Bishop Moore, the Warhawks losing 3-0 to Melbourne, and the Cougars 2-1 to Orangewood Christian.