Pirates take shot at Soluri's 200th victory

By KEITH NIEBUHR

© St. Petersburg Times, published January 10, 2001

At first, Dave Soluri thought he would coach soccer four or five years.

Fifteen seasons and 199 wins later, all in the Crystal River boys program, Soluri is ever-so-close to reaching the 200-victory milestone -- something he never envisioned at the start of his career.

"When I started, I was actually trying to get into baseball at that time," Soluri said. "But once I finally got into soccer, I realized that it was a lot more fun than the other sports I had tried to coach."

The 48-year-old's first shot at win No. 200 comes Friday night when the Pirates (11-0-2) play at North Marion. They spanked the Colts 11-1 in December.

Soluri's career record is 199-67-29.

"It's special to me," he said. "There are a lot of coaches in others sports, not just soccer, who never win that many."

The Pirates are off to their best start since 1993, when they went 15-0 in the regular season but lost to eventual-state champion Tampa Berkeley Prep in the district tournament.

This squad, Soluri said, might be his best to date.

"I'd put this team up against (the '93 team) easily," he said. "That team had one or two outstanding players.

"This year, we have a whole team of outstanding players that play together as a team. It's been great working with these kids," Soluri said.

How many more seasons does Soluri have left in him?

"No comment," he said. "It's getting tougher and tougher every year."

RAISING CANE: The Citrus girls may not be unbeatable, but it sure seems that way.

The Hurricanes, 10-0-3 after Monday's 8-0 win against Central, never have lost to a county opponent and are 31-1-5 since the start of the 1999-2000 season.

Friday night at 7:30, Lecanto has a shot to snap the Hurricanes' winning streak on its home field. The last time the teams played, Citrus won 5-0.

"If we work together, we have the talent to beat them," Panthers forward Amber Gidden said.

The Hurricanes' Amy Bowen, Jessica Macdonald, Amber Presnick and Sonya Segars each have 10 or more goals.

Bowen and Presnick lead the county with 14 goals apiece. Macdonald is third with 13, and Segars is tied for fourth at 12 with Gidden. Presnick and Bowen, rank first and second, respectively, in assists.

"Citrus works really well with each other," Gidden said. "They seem to get along well. They're fun to watch. It would mean a lot (to beat them)."

GIMME A BREAK: Winter break is a time to rest. Sometimes, though, players get too much rest.

When the Lecanto boys play at Citrus on Friday, it will be the Panthers' first game since Dec.15.

"I'm not really happy with the conditioning of our players right now," Lecanto coach Bruce Sheffield said. "It's a major concern. We need a few days to get the wind back in us.

"The holidays are tough. You've got kids out of town, and I even went out of town for over a week. It's a tough situation to be in.

"We had some good momentum going into the break," Sheffield said, "and hopefully we can continue it."

NOTABLE: The Citrus girls have tied Ocala Forest the last four times the teams have played.

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