Pinellas: County roundup

By BRYAN BURNS, Times Staff Writer
Published December 20, 2007

ST. PETERSBURG - Northeast's home match against Seminole had plenty at stake: the No. 1 seed for the district tournament, as well as the Pinellas County Athletic Conference south county championship would go to the winner.

What resulted was a brutally physical game Wednesday that left one player with a broken bone in his leg, plenty of others with bumps and bruises and a 2-2 draw that was as satisfying to watch for the coaches as it was the spectators.

"I had a blast watching," Northeast coach Thomas Blauvelt said. "It was a great game."

With the tie, Seminole earns the district's top seed and will play in the PCAC championship game Jan. 8.

Blauvelt undoubtedly felt even better after watching Jasmin Mecanovik score on a free kick with just two minutes remaining. After a fairly even first half, Seminole had dominated after halftime and took a 2-1 lead when Sebastien Thuriere scored his second goal of the night, a beautifully taken free kick from just outside the goal box.

Mecanovik attempted his free kick from about 30 yards and sent a right-footed shot into the upper-right corner of the goal that froze goalie Andrew Goffe and salvaged a draw for the host.

"He's my sweeper, but he's a scoring machine," Blauvelt said of Mecanovik.

Just before halftime with the score tied at 1, Seminole's Michael Ulm went down hard in front of the Northeast box, grabbing his leg. Ulm lay on the ground throughout halftime before being carted off to a waiting van that would take him to the hospital. After the game, Seminole coach Rick Masi confirmed Ulm had broken a bone in his right leg.

"It's unbelievable," said Masi, who also lost Brian Tyler, Maurice Lelii and Troy Cobb - all starters - to season-ending injuries earlier this year. "I've never had a year like that. But it's one of those things. Others have to step up."

Seminole came out of halftime playing inspired. The Warhawks had eight second-half shots to Northeast's two.

"I knew their coach was saying, 'Let's win this for Michael Ulm,' " Blauvelt said. "My guys burned a lot of energy trying to chase them all night. And really, that's where my team's at right now. We have a lot of athletes, but I don't have a lot of offensive players. We try to mark closely and grab a goal here and there."

Northeast got the first goal 15 minutes in when Lukasz Chrzastek headed in a cross from Josh Phillippi. Seminole scored the equalizer 15 minutes later when Stefan Cerf's cross found the head of Thuriere, whose shot hit the far post and ricocheted into goal.

GIRLS SOCCER

Seminole 8, Northeast 0

At Northeast, Megan Lawrence, Katelin Frehling and Sidney Wendel each had two goals apiece as Seminole routed the Vikings.

Frehling scored nine minutes in, and Lawrence added her first goal five minutes later and her second with 16 minutes left in the half. Wendel's first goal came eight minutes before halftime.

Taylor Mattox and Megan Fisher added second-half goals for Seminole (12-1-1). Wendel's second goal with five minutes remaining gave the Warhawks an 8-0 lead and ended the match.

Palm Harbor University 6, Dunedin 1

On senior night at Palm Harbor, PHU cruised.

Colleen Lynch, Catherine Brinkman, Megan Eby and Shannon Healy scored first-half goals for the Hurricanes, who improved to 11-1-1.

Zoe Lombard and Heather Mariscal added scores in the second half to give PHU a 6-0 lead before Dunedin (8-7-2) got a goal back for the final score.

BOYS BASKETBALL

Clearwater 61, Gibbs 44

At Gibbs, Clearwater jumped out to a six-point lead after the first quarter and maintained that lead throughout.

"Both teams played really good defense," Clearwater coach Jack Coit said. "It was a great defensive game."

Regan O'Rourke scored a game-high 24 for Clearwater, which improves to 10-0. Luke Loucks (14 points) and Adam Pegg (13) also scored in double figures for the Tornadoes.

Ke'Owen Walker, who averages 15 points for Gibbs, scored just eight against Clearwater.

"Okaro White did a great job defensively on Walker and grabbing rebounds for us," Coit said.

Xavier Frazier was the leading scorer for Gibbs (7-3) with 13.

GIRLS BASKETBALL

Gibbs 55, Seminole 47

Gibbs held on down the stretch for a victory on the road, improving to 8-7.

Trailing by five late in the game, Seminole (3-11) had two open looks from 3-point range to close the gap, but both shots rattled in and out. Gibbs made six straight free throws down the stretch to ice it.

Kamika Idom had 16 points and Rory Spann added 15 for Gibbs.

[Last modified December 20, 2007, 00:44:39]