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Boys soccer teams push through postseason

Victories help Wharton and Leto take district titles, while Melbourne edges Sickles girls, 1-0, in regional semifinal play.

By TERRY JONES
Published February 3, 2006

High school soccer teams are continuing to duke it out in the postseason, with several local teams in the mix: the boys teams from Freedom, Gaither, Leto and Wharton. The Sickles girls team advanced in postseason play until they finally got knocked out of the playoffs Tuesday night. Here are the results from recent games:

Leto is the surprise in postseason play this season. The Falcons defeated Hillsborough, 3-2, to capture the Class 5A, District 10 title and earn a favored bracket for the quarterfinal match.

Wharton won its first district championship with a 1-0 win over Freedom in the 5A, District 8 game. Both will continue in postseason play.

Gaither ran into a human wall of defense at Countryside last Friday night. Even in overtime, the Cowboys could not get a single shot past the Countryside keeper, even with 20 shots on goal. Countryside won, 1-0, but Gaither will continue in regional play in the loser's bracket.

When Leto beat Hillsborough, it seemingly had the match in hand in regulation. But with nine minutes remaining and a 2-0 lead, the Falcons gave up two late goals to send the match into double overtime.

Leto senior forward Victor Mafla scored the winning goal in the second overtime to prevent a penalty-kick decision. Luis Cortes scored the first two goals for Leto.

In the Wharton-Freedom game, Ryan Asare-Bediako scored the only goal in the Wildcats' win.

This week, several boys soccer quarterfinal matches were to be played Thursday night, after North of Tampa's press time: Gaither (21-1-2) at Plant City (12-3-2); Freedom (14-3-2) at Land O'Lakes (18-6-3); Wharton (13-2-3) playing host to Ridgewood (11-7-5); and Leto (11-4-1) entertaining Palm Harbor (21-4).

After losing its first match of the season, 4-0, in the district finals, the Sickles girls team appeared ready to wrap up its season with a regional quarterfinal match at Sarasota Riverview. The Riverview Rams are known as a very physical team, and the Sickles Gryphons had just been shut out for the first time of the season.

Sarasota Riverview scored early and immediately set up its tough defense to protect its 1-0 lead. Its defense is led by one of the better keepers in the state.

But then came disaster for the Rams, when keeper M.C. Gilbert collided knee-to-knee with Gryphons forward Chelsea Wright. Gilbert was unable to continue and was replaced.

Wright continued and scored the winning goal with less than three minutes remaining, giving Sickles a 2-1 victory.

Sophomore striker Katerina Tsitsikronis scored Sickles' first goal, at the 70-minute mark, from 35 yards out.

Unfortunately for the Sickles Gryphons, they were finally knocked out of the playoffs with a 1-0 loss to Melbourne this past Tuesday in the regional semifinals.

[Last modified February 2, 2006, 11:27:10]