Bloomingdale earns 1st soccer crown
DOUG CARLSON of The Tampa Tribune
Originally Published: Feb 25, 2001

To the uninitiated, Saturday's dramatic overtime girls soccer victory by the Bloomingdale Bulls must have been hard on the heart.

First, the Bulls appeared ready to cruise home with the Class 4A state championship. Then, it looked like it was going to be an occasion for tears.

But a bizarre momentum shift and a familiar bit of teamwork between two talented seniors lifted the Bulls (22-2-4) to a 3-2 overtime victory against DeLand at the Florida State University Women's Soccer Complex.

Before Saturday, no Hillsborough County school - public or private - had ever won a girls state soccer championship. Bloomingdale tried, but lost, in the 1992 state final against Longwood Lyman.

``Fantastic. Absolutely fantastic,'' Coach Sue Peet said. ``This is a direct result of the character these kids have and how hard they work.''

Bloomingdale senior Tara Escribano blasted a shot, from 30 yards out, to give the Bulls a 1-0 lead less than 12 minutes into the game. It was her 16th goal of the season, but would be surpassed in significance by her next.

DeLand (22-5-2) did not even get its first shot on goal until sophomore Sarah Stock attempted a header with 18:23 remaining in the half. By then, the Bulls appeared to hold a clear edge in personnel and ball movement.

Stock and the Bulldogs appeared to grab a psychological edge as the second half began, culminating in her game-tying shot past Bloomingdale freshman goalkeeper Megan Robey after splitting two defenders with 20:29 left in regulation.

DeLand junior midfielder Amber Otto, on a ball being cleared by Bloomingdale, volleyed a shot from 15 yards out into the right side of the net. With 9:15 left in regulation, the Bulldogs led, 2-1.

But before the noise subsided among a few hundred DeLand supporters, Escribano sailed a pass down the right sideline when the ball was put back into play and senior Kim Martins drilled it into the lower left corner of the Bulldogs' net to tie the score at 2.

``I don't even know what happened,'' Peet said. ``I was thinking we were in trouble and the next moment I looked up the ball is going into the net.''

The score came 16 seconds after DeLand had taken the lead.

``We were just thinking, `Oh, no,' when they scored, but Tara and Kim work awesome together,'' senior Lyndrea Sutherland said.

With 2:52 remaining in the first overtime period - at the game's 82:08 mark - Martins returned the favor, looping a corner kick that Escribano headed over the head of DeLand goalkeeper Erin Kypta for the game-winner.

``When they took the lead, we knew we had to work harder,'' Escribano said. ``Me and Kim have been teammates for a long time. We work well together. Now all of us can celebrate together.

``There's no way, no words, to describe this feeling. It's something we'll remember the rest of our lives.''