Gulf gets one back

Gulf senior Drew Roberts knew he had done something wrong, but he never thought it would end his high school soccer career prematurely.

Roberts, who watched his teammates play two overtime games without him last week as he served a two-game suspension following a red card, got the news he was hoping for on Wednesday: his three-week suspension had been commuted to one week, allowing him to play in tonight's regional quarterfinal at Crystal River (14-3-2).

"I was worried, definitely very nervous," said Roberts, whose appeal was based on the understanding that he had not used foul language in complaining to an official after a hard foul in a 5-0 win against Wesley Chapel. "Watching the last two games was hard. I couldn't sit down the whole time, and I lost my voice both nights."

When Gulf (17-7-4) takes the field tonight at 7:30 for its first regional playoff appearance in nine years, it will do so with Roberts at center midfielder, where he was the Buccaneers' second-leading scorer with 16 goals. That allows Alex Maric, the county's top offensive threat with 40 goals, to move back to forward.

"Drew is really a key factor for us offensively," said coach Sam Koleduk. "Alex has to do too much without Drew, and they're both better when they have each other to work with."

With Roberts out, Gulf got surprising play -- and one goal each -- from junior varsity call-ups Ricky Diaz and Steve Perviance. Diaz scored in the district final against Land O'Lakes and will start at forward, giving the Buccaneers a new level of depth on offense.

"All the young kids have played awesome," said Koleduk, who will be without his top defender, Nick Kaller, who earned a red card at the end of regulation against the Gators on Friday and is expected to miss the rest of the postseason.

Crystal River, too, will be missing key players -- forward John Wester (21 goals) also earned a red card last week, and stopper Brad Deitemayer, ready to return after missing much of the year with a broken foot, had an appendectomy Tuesday and is lost for the season.

Roberts' return won't change the fact that Gulf must open the playoffs on the road instead of at home, where the Buccaneers were undefeated. Koleduk said that if he had Roberts on the field, he would have liked his team's chances against Land O'Lakes, which rallied for a tying goal in the final two minutes to win 3-2 in overtime.

Roberts said he doesn't know much about Crystal River, but Gulf beat their common opponent, Central, while the Pirates lost 7-1 to Central in December.

"Our kids are keeping pretty positive," Koleduk said. "They know they can play with anybody, and Crystal River is a good team, but I don't know that they've played anyone like us."

-- Times staff writer Carey Freeman contributed to this report.

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