Strangers to PKs, Indians still prevail

 It came down to penalty kicks for East Bay and Sarasota Riverview, a position East Bay coach Claudine Sosa said, "Nobody wanted."

By SCOTT PURKS
Published January 19, 2007

GIBSONTON - After 80 minutes of scoreless regulation, and two 10-minute sudden-death overtimes, it came down to penalty kicks for East Bay and Sarasota Riverview, a position East Bay coach Claudine Sosa said, "Nobody wanted."

It seemed, however, East Bay's players stepped into a comfort zone as its first four penalty kickers, Julie Rolfe, Lauren Verbosky, Kelly Leeper and Lindsey Rankin, booted balls into the back of the net, easy as you please.

"We haven't had to go to penalty kicks all season, but we did practice them this week," Sosa said. "We knew we were going up against a very good team and we needed to be prepared."

Sarasota Riverview, meantime, missed two of its first three penalty kicks.

The victory puts East Bay (14-1-2) into tonight's final against Sarasota, which defeated Lakeland 2-0 in Thursday's first semifinal at Riverview High.

The Indians, who did not seal the victory until 10:30 p.m., might find themselves a little more fatigued than the Sailors, who had a relatively easy time with the Dreadnaughts.

Through regulation, Sarasota Riverview (8-11-3) had more shots (14 to East Bay's 10) and at least in the waning moments appeared to get more quality shots. Time and again, East Bay's defense, led by sweeper Rachel Sandora and keeper Amanda Meredith, made just enough plays to stop every attack.

More Soccer: Terriers ready to tame Panthers again 

TAMPA - The seven seniors on Hillsborough's squad have yet to lose to Plant in four seasons. Today, they'll attempt to make it a clean sweep.

The Terriers (12-3) throttled Robinson 9-1 on Wednesday in a mercy-rule shortened game to set up another showdown with Plant, a 5-0 winner over Chamberlain, for the district title.

"We'll get the underclassmen together before the (Plant) game and say, 'If you're not doing it for anything, do it for us because it's been a rivalry since I was a 14-year-old freshman,' " said Hillsborough forward and senior Sara Belsole, who scored her county-leading 28th goal of the season and third of the postseason to put the Terriers up 7-0 over Robinson (4-6).

Freshman forward Jhoan Martinez and sophomore midfielder Emily Szabo each scored twice for the Terriers, who led 7-1 at halftime; Catie Donaldson, Morgan Parker and Sara Ranon also added goals. Niki Smith scored Robinson's loan goal late in the first half.

Plant (13-5-1) held Chamberlain without a shot on goal and had 22 of their own to shut out the Chiefs (6-8-1). Natasha Mighell, Chelsea Hearne, Kelly Coker, Alexi Rakestraw and Stacy Heitlinger each scored for the Panthers, who gave up two late goals to lose 2-1 to Hillsborough in the teams' only matchup this season (Dec. 8).

Bryan Burns, Times correspondent

Bulls survive semis 

LITHIA - King's Candace Brady scored the first goal against top seed Bloomingdale in the early semifinal at Newsome. After a King sideline throw-in, Kaeley Hamilton passed to an open Brady in the box, scoring in the 14th minute.

Bloomingdale answered with a long kick from Jordan Johnson. The teams split ball control most of the second half with King keeper Kiara Huffman making some tremendous plays, finishing with 10.

The difference in the game came on a penalty kick in the 23rd minute of the second half when Caitlin Lavigne drilled it through the outstretched hands of Huffman for a 2-1 win.

"This was a typical district game, there was a ton of fire," Bulls coach Sue Peet said.

In the second semi, Newsome defeated Freedom 3-1. In the first half Rudy Rodriguez scored for the Wolves on a header in the box. In the second half, Newsome scored another goal in the 17th minute after Ana Cate broke free of defenders and put one in the back of the goal to the right of the outstretched, diving hands of Freedom keeper Emily Simpson. Kellie Fowke scored two minutes later to give Newsome a 3-0 lead. Freedom's goal came from Monique Lamotte on a penalty kick with less than two minutes left.

Jarrett Guthrie, Times correspondent

Wait is over for SPC 

TAMPA - It took two days and stretched into two overtimes, but St. Petersburg Catholic is moving on.

The Barons' Erica Gilbert scored with less than two minutes left in the second overtime to lift her squad 2-1 over host Berkeley Prep.

The Barons' win came 24 hours after the match started due to a transformer malfunctioning Wednesday night. The opening half was completed Wednesday with the Barons holding a 1-0 lead.

The second half was played Thursday night with Berkeley Prep (14-5-3) quickly taking advantage, knotting the match at one five minutes in on a goal by Rebecca Hurst.

St. Petersburg Catholic (12-6-2) avoided penalty kicks when Gilbert took a pass from Katie Gutierrez, dribbled downfield and slipped in the winning shot from 15 yards out.

Rod Gipson, Times correspondent

[Last modified January 18, 2007, 23:57:16]