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West Pasco U-17 team in hunt for another national title
By Steve Lee
Published December 28, 2006
NEW PORT RICHEY - Rivals during the season, 15 players from five area high schools have teamed up in pursuit of a third national tournament title. The West Pasco Thunder, an under-17 competitive team of players from Gulf, Mitchell, Ridgewood, River Ridge and East Lake, are in Fort Lauderdale for the Orange Classic. Preliminaries began Wednesday with semifinals and finals slated for Saturday. "Hopefully, we're going to be there still on Saturday," said coach Karl Kukec, who also coaches Mitchell. "I want to get a third national tournament win." West Pasco entered this week's tournament with two titles and a 17-0-2 record. The Thunder won the Atlanta Cup during Labor Day weekend and the Puma Challenge in Sarasota during the Thanksgiving break. The unbeaten Thunder dominated in its first series, outscoring opponents 21-0 in winning five games in Atlanta. In the final, goalkeeper Laura Seletos (Mitchell) backstopped West Pasco to a 2-0 shutout win over Georgia on goals by Courtney Cohen (Gulf). The Sarasota tournament was much closer with West Pasco going 3-0-1 and overcoming being a player down for most of the final. The Thunder led Manatee 2-0 on goals by Cohen and Shelby Wright (Mitchell) when Emily Stone (Mitchell) was red-carded midway through the first half of a 2-1 win. Seletos and the defense tightened up with Manatee scoring on a penalty kick. "We help up, defensively," Kukec said. The Thunder is playing up a division, in the U-18 group, for two reasons. Kukec said the team will be challenged more than in the previous series. That, coupled with the presence of numerous college coaches, Kukec hopes, will bring out the best in his players. "You've got a lot of college coaches looking for someone they really need for the upcoming season," Kukec said. "This is where they are recruiting from. "My girls are mostly juniors. I'm showcasing them." Wright, a freshman, along with sophomores Seletos and Agape Georgiadis (Mitchell) are West Pasco's three underclassmen. Steve Lee can be reached at lee@sptimes.com or (352) 521-6517.
[Last modified December 27, 2006, 21:24:22]
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