Feb 1, 2001 - 02:24 PM

Bloomingdale holds off Durant
ROBBIE NEISWANGER Tribune correspondent

TAMPA - Bloomingdale-Durant has become a series decided by breaks and, once again, the Durant girls soccer team could not find one.

Bloomingdale scored a goal in the 26th minute, then held off a fiesty Durant attack to claim another close 1-0 win in the Class 4A-District 7 semifinals.

The series has been so close in recent games that Wednesday's result was the seventh consecutive time the schools have battled to a tie or one-goal decision.

``With two teams as good as this, you're not going to get a lot of opportunities to score,'' Durant coach Dick Sheffield said. ``It comes down to who is going to be able to put the ball in the net.''

The lone goal Wednesday came when Bloomingdale midfielder Megan Snaider sent a free kick into the Durant box. The ball found the head of senior Lyndrea Sutherland, who slotted it past Durant goalkeeper Jackie Hinton.

Durant (13-4-5) was able to force the action in the second half, but could not beat the Bloomingdale defense.

Bloomingdale (16-1-4) moves on to face Palm Harbor, which rolled to a 6-1 win against Sickles earlier in the evening, in the district final Friday. Palm Harbor (23-2) was powered by a four-goal performance from forward Gabby Farkasfalvy against the Gryphons (5-6-4).

Class 3A-12: At Sarasota, Kristen Salvog and Heather Swanson scored for Riverview as the Sharks knocked off Brandon 2-1 in the semifinals and advance to the state playoffs for the second consecutive season. Riverview will face Sarasota, 5-0 winner against Port Charlotte, in Friday's district championship game.

Class 2A-10: At Blake, Jefferson got a hat trick and two assists from Jennifer Selvig as the Dragons moved on to tonight's semifinals with a 7-0 win against Robinson. Jefferson will face Tampa Catholic followed by Blake vs. East Bay.

Class 3A-8: At Ridgewood, Land O' Lakes got two unassisted goals from sophomore Stacy Bishop, the second on a free kick from 25 yards out with under two minutes left, to squeeze out a 2-1 upset of No. 2-seed Countryside in the semifinals. The Gators (21-5-1) earned a regional berth and a spot in Friday's district championship against top-seeded East Lake, which edged River Ridge (13-6-3) 1-0 in overtime.

The Eagles, who won both regular-season meetings against Land O' Lakes, nearly missed advancing despite outshooting the Royal Knights 15-7 but Megan Balmer scored on a feed from Krista Petitt with 2:13 left in the first five-minute overtime period.