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LAURA LEEThe Spongers wash away a year of "what if" and earn their first trip to the state final.
FORT LAUDERDALE - For a year the Spongers have said the same thing: We'll be back.
Back in the state semifinals with a chance to do things over.
On Friday, they did.
Instead of picking themselves up off the field after a 1-0 overtime loss, as they had to last season, the Tarpon Springs girls soccer team ran all over it after beating Tallahassee Leon 3-1 at Lockhart Stadium on Friday in a Class 4A semifinal.
Tarpon scored early but struggled for much of the first half, but it woke up in the second half to beat an opponent that was without five players sent home for violating team rules.
The Spongers (19-3) play in their first state title game today against Daytona Beach Seabreeze (25-3). Seabreeze was the first team to score on and beat Riviera Beach Suncoast, winning 2-1 in overtime.
For a while it looked like the Spongers didn't believe they could do it. Tarpon scored first and early, as Paige Beyer crossed the ball at the top of the penalty box to connect with Libby Gianeskis, who put it in the net. But the contest began to drag late in the half.
Leon (20-5-3) took a shot midway through the half, but Jordan Beyer kicked it away before it reached the goal.
The Lions didn't miss on their second good chance, a free kick in the last minute of the half. Julia Luongo took a shot from just outside the penalty box and curved it high to the right corner, just out of reach of Spongers' keeper Alexia Berg. The tying goal deflated Tarpon's momentum at the start of the second half.
"At halftime it looked like we were losing 3-0 or 4-0," Tarpon coach John Freiermuth said.
The Spongers came alive in the 51st minute, when the ball crossed into Leon territory for the first time in the second period. Whitney Gause dribbled deep into the right corner of the field and crossed it high, and Gianeskis put it in the back of the net for her second goal.
"After Libby's goal, we were like, "Let's do this,' " Paige Beyer said. "When we all unite together, we're just unstoppable."
Ashley Jeffris slipped in a third goal in the 55th minute. Jeffris played a pass from Gianeskis 20 yards out, knocking it just beneath the crossbar.
"Usually I know when I'm going to score, but that one came out of nowhere," Jeffris said.
Tarpon watched Seabreeze and Suncoast battle through two overtimes in a fast and physical game. The Sandcrabs are led by senior Lindsay Brauer (61 goals), who broke Suncoast's streak of 25 consecutive shutouts.
Although the Spongers said it didn't matter who they played in the championship, senior Jeffris said facing Suncoast would have been sweet.
Tarpon lost to Suncoast in last year's state semifinal and has talked about that game since. With a team loaded with juniors, they said they could do it next year. Now with seven seniors starting, they know this is it.
"Last year was a nightmare," Beyer said. "This year, our senior year, we're not going to let it slip by that easily. We can't. We want the bling bling rings."