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Wildcats, Bucs continue rise

By STEVE LEE
Published January 26, 2005

NEW PORT RICHEY - Wesley Chapel's recordbreaking season and Gulf's turnaround continued with first-round victories in Monday's Class 4A, District 10 tournament.

Wesley Chapel (6-15-1) beat host Ridgewood 2-1 to set a school record for wins. The Wildcats won five each of the past two seasons.

Gulf (9-10-4) defeated Hudson 3-1 to pull within one game of .500 after going 1-23 last season.

The Wildcats and Bucs advance to tonight's district semifinals. Sixth-seeded Wesley Chapel plays No. 2 Zephyrhills at 6 and No. 4 Gulf takes on top seed Tarpon Springs at 8.

"They played incredible," Wesley Chapel coach Jamie Finan said of her team. "They knew it was their time. I was shocked the girls didn't throw a bucket of water over me."

Janessa Gunn and Ashley Soria scored for Wesley Chapel; Meagan Cipolla and Kristine Marcotte each had an assist. Gunn and Soria share the team lead in goals at 10.

Goalkeeper Lara Hail, who began the season at midfield while recuperating from a shoulder injury, made several key saves to preserve the Wildcats' first playoff win.

"Almost every save she had was big for us," Finan said.

Patty Racener's second-half goal, her fifth, helped Ridgewood (4-13-2) avoid a shutout.

Gulf coach Shari Schau said her team already has surpassed expectations.

"Anything from here is just positive," she said. "The only other goal I had was to win a first-round district game. We got that goal."

Alicia Roddenberg's hat trick led the Bucs. The freshman forward scored twice on rebounds before netting the winner on a breakaway off a through ball from Alyssa Goodwin.

"She's obviously our top scorer and she's someone we look to," Schau said of Roddenberg, Gulf's scoring leader with 15 goals and 35 points.

Gulf's Ashley Lauze had an assist, her first point of the season.

Courtney Law scored for Hudson (3-16-2).

Wesley Chapel lost twice to Zephyrhills during the season and Gulf went 0-1-1 against Tarpon Springs.

[Last modified January 26, 2005, 00:13:15]